


The Dishwasher Incident

by Knightowls



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, BYOT- bring your own tissues, Buggy is pining, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, How Do I Tag, M/M, Shanks is both dense and insightful, and they were roomates, i love the Red Hair Pirates I swear, it's my au I do what I want
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:40:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28964040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knightowls/pseuds/Knightowls
Summary: After three years of absolutely no communication between Buggy and Shanks. They run into each other once more on campus. Shanks in need of a place to live and Buggy in the need for a new roommate decide to live together. This is the story of how Buggy copes with living with his long time crush and the guilt that drove him away from Shanks to begin with. Shanks is just happy to have Buggy back in his life, but is that all it will ever be?
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Buggy, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks/Buggy
Comments: 75
Kudos: 87





	1. Reunions and New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi-chapter work please bear with me. And I have rated this as E because there will eventually be that type of content. I will do my best to let you know when a chapter will contain explicit content and when exactly that content will happen within the chapter. With that enjoy! :>

It’s great that she and Hancock have _finally_ done something about that god awful sexual tension. But to just up and move into the Amazon Lily Sorority with no more than “here’s this month's rent bye.” Buggy has had it up to here with Alvida. He can’t believe her. Yes, she was a horrible roommate. Yes, she was a pain in the ass. Always making a mess of the bathroom, never picking up after herself, and getting her to pay her half of the rent on time was like trying to pull teeth. Really would it kill her to put the dishes away once in a while. Now, _now_ she has left him high and dry and in the desperate need of a roommate.

Ugh, he's going to get a headache at this rate and he’s pretty sure it wasn’t her idea to pay for this month's rent. While he knew Roger and Rouge wouldn’t mind helping out he really didn’t want to bug them with this after all he’d been technically living on his own for almost three years now. With such a hasty move she even forgot a ton of her stuff. While his apartment is within walking distance of the campus the Paradise side of the Calm Belt is on the opposite side of campus; just to drop off the crap she should have taken with her the first go round. And to top it all off she isn’t even outside like she said she would be.

Ringing the doorbell he left standing in front of Amazon Lily and it is so, so painfully awkward. All sororities are by definition female only, but Amazon Lily really takes it to the next level. Every single event is female only. The last guy who tried to get into one was almost swallowed by Hancock’s damn snake. How those three sisters got permission to have them on campus would forever boggle Buggy’s mind.

So here he is, a man, standing outside of the infamous man hating sorority with a box full of random crap that belongs to one of the most insufferable people he has had the pleasure of meeting. The staring is horrible, but at least it can’t possibly get any worse.

“Buggy?” Buggy going stiff at the voice. _And I stand corrected._ Because that is a voice he hasn’t heard in years. Has done just about everything he could so he wouldn't ever hear it again. _Just ignore him. You’ve done it for 3 years. You can do it for 3 more minutes. Granted you were on the other side of the world for a third of it, but hey maybe if you don’t respond he will just shrug it off. Just whatever you do. Do. Not. Respond._

“It _is_ you.” He sounds so goddamn happy. Why does he sound so happy to see him? Especially after what happened. Buggy shifts the box to one hand and knocks harshly on the door, a cold sweat breaking out. He can feel Shanks’s eyes on him. Hurry up. _Come on Alvida for once in your life hurry up!_

“Buggy? Hey? What are you doing? Hancock is going to be pissed if she sees you.” And is that worry in his voice? The one time he’s on campus for non-school-related business and he not only runs into Shanks again but he makes him worried. _He shouldn’t be worried about me._ Thankfully the invisible boundary that is around the sorority is keeping Shanks from getting closer. “Seriously? Buggy, come on, I don’t want to have to take you to the hospital within the first five minutes of seeing each other.”

“It’s none of your business tomato head!” Buggy snaps. _Fuck. Shit._ _That’s not ignoring him Buggy! That is the exact opposite of ignoring him._ Fuck! Why is he incapable of responding calmly to Shanks? Why must he always be on edge? ~~You know why.~~ God, he misses the days where it was so easy for them to talk to one another. But those days are long gone. Now they’re nothing more than strangers. It is for the best. _He only brought bad things to Shanks._ Buggy reminds himself.

“What crawled up his ass?” One of the people next to Shanks asks and Buggy refuses to turn around and see which one. And before anyone else could get a word in the door finally, _finally_ opens.

“Ah, You must be the roommate Alvida spoke of.” Buggy sighs internally. Of course, Hancock of all people had to be the one who opened the door. Buggy can _hear_ the IQ of the whole street drop behind him.

“Yep. Just here to drop off some of the stuff she left behind. So where do you want me to put it?” Buggy asks, his eyes focused on Hancock’s face. Pleading from within to take the stuff so he can just go. Hancock seemingly ignores him to scan the crowd instead. When she does decide to grace him with a response, she says something no man has ever heard before.

“Follow me then,”...what? Was he seriously just invited into the Amazon Lily by the Snake Princess herself? She steps back and makes room for Buggy to enter keeping her glare locked beyond him. Apparently yes, yes he was. Dazed at the ease of which he is allowed entry, because, really? This is his life right now? What else is he supposed to do? Shanks was right behind him and Hancock didn’t seem inclined to take the box from him. So it was either the man-hating Snake Pit or his estranged childhood best friend. _Well that’s an easy choice then, isn’t it?_ Buggy follows Hancock in and the door closes behind him and while the confusion doesn’t leave him some of the tension in his shoulders does. Meeting Shanks like that wasn't what he planned, hell he never planned to meet the redhead ever again after that summer.

He follows Hancock up a short set of stairs into the main living area, not a single word spoken between them. Not that Buggy would try even, with all of the odd looks he's getting he doesn’t want to draw more attention to himself in this situation. Some come up to talk to Hancock about some event or another side-eyeing him as they do so. Otherwise, Buggy is ignored which is fine by him. He doesn’t know why he was allowed in here either. Finally coming up to a double door at the end of the hall. Hancock opens it.

“You can set the box on the floor” Buggy does as instructed and leaves the room. Gesturing to the front of the house.

“I’ll just hea-” Buggy speaks only to be cut off.

“Come to the kitchen.” It wasn’t a question, but Buggy's questions are growing.

“Okay???” He follows her to the kitchen where the infamous serpent is resting on the window sill. It lifts its head to greet its master and then turns its focus onto Buggy. For a second he is sure it's going to try to eat him. But Hancock just pats it on the head and it goes back to it’s nap. One of the younger members looks to be making dinner, a rather serious woman with long black hair tied up in a very high ponytail places a plate next to Hancock with surprisingly little fanfare.

"Kikyo, a plate for our guest. Sit.” once again a command. Buggy is starting to think she doesn’t communicate any other way, but he sits. His food arrived with a clunk. It's a salad, while good for him not particularly filling. Well, he wasn’t expecting food in the first place. But he had skipped lunch and there’s no need to be rude. As they eat Hancock continues to be fawned over and asked questions by her sisters and Buggy is trying to fade into the background. The only place he likes drawing attention to himself is when he’s performing. He turns at the feel of eyes; only to flinch back not expecting someone so close.

“Yes?” Buggy asks. prompting the girl. Her intense stare unnerving him slightly.

“Sorry. It's just really pretty.” Her face took on a light blush. “I always wanted to grow my hair out but it just never worked out for me. What products do you use?” Focusing on the question. The fact that it fell under one of Buggy’s interests made it easier for Buggy to answer past the awkwardness he felt from being inside Amazon Lily.

“Oh. I use one of those personalized hair care creators. Kalifa's Awa Awa Shop. I'll give you the link.” and Buggy finally eases talking about things he has enjoyed since he was little. He spends the rest of the time trading tips and tricks with the girls. It turns out to be a fun conversation. When Alvida finally arrives it is easy to fall back into their comfortable dynamic of sniping at each other. It was about 15 minutes after Buggy was granted entrance did Alvida make her’s; heading straight to the box of her junk.

"Is this everything?” Alvida asks.

“It better be. I went through the apartment 3 times.” Buggy sighs.

“Oh so I did leave my mace at the old place," Alvida says, hefting the thing out of the box. It was ridiculously heavy. Buggy much preferred his knives.

"So why is Red-hair's group lurking in front of the house? I tried to get them to fuck off but apparently, Shanks didn’t want to go. Spouting some bullshit about waiting for an old friend?” Obviously fishing for information which Buggy pointedly ignores. That was his business and while a shit roommate Alvida was a half-decent friend, Shanks was just a topic he just couldn’t bring himself to talk about even with his closest friends let alone in the middle of Amazon Lily. He was hoping that Shanks would just leave, maybe his friends could convince him. _(A voice in the back of his head snorts at the naive hope.)_ With the return of Alvida’s stuff and no other feasible reason to stay, he’s tempted to just leave. If only to avoid Alvida’s prodding but he isn’t told to leave nor does Alvida push for information. Probably realizing a crowded kitchen isn’t the best place to interrogate him. And with the possibility of Shanks still being out there hanging over his head, Buggy isn’t very inclined to leave anyways. Alvida just picks Hancock up and places the woman on to her lap as they continue talking.

It's a solid couple of hours later when he has to leave the temporary haven he found to hide in from his past. Poking his head out the door to look left and right. There was no trace of Shanks or his crew. Buggy huffs out a sigh of relief and makes way for his apartment. Only to literally run into Shanks as he turns past the hedge.

* * *

Shank hated the fact that he had to go through Paradise to get to the New World, but beggars can’t be choosers and apparently the girl Yasopp is interested in is part Amazon Lily and he wanted to see if she was nearby. Most of the girls were fine but Hancock as the Sorority head was of the mind that any man that stepped onto the property was free snake food. Which was probably why Lucky Roux elbowed him as they got closer.

“Who's the idiot with the deathwish?” Yasopp asked. Turning his head to look over Yasopp Shanks was asking the same question until he caught the sight of a very familiar shade of blue.

“Buggy?” The name slipping from his lips before he could fully comprehend what he was seeing. The subtle flinch was confirmation enough. Not that Shanks needed it, he would recognize Buggy anywhere.

“It _is_ you.” Shanks couldn’t contain his growing excitement. It was Buggy! He was here in front of Shanks once more. But Buggy wasn’t responding in fact besides the flinch he caught earlier Buggy hadn’t acknowledged Shanks at all. _That’s weird._ Then Buggy was almost pounding on Amazon Lily’s front door. That wasn’t good. Buggy could get hurt if Hancock caught him.

“Buggy? Hey? What are you doing? Hancock is going to be pissed if she sees you.” Worry making Shanks walk up to the hedges. His friends stayed slightly further back. Again nothing, good thing Shanks had years of practice getting a rise out of Buggy. “Seriously? Buggy, come on, I don’t want to have to take you to the hospital within the first five minutes of seeing each other.”

“It’s none of your business tomato head!” Success! Ah, the biting remarks of his best friend and the slight turn of the head gave Shanks the smallest peek at Buggy’s distinctive nose. Shanks was about to give up and just go grab Buggy when the door swung open in a very dramatic fashion. _Shit. Why did it have to be Hancock?_ Except she wasn’t sicking her snake on Buggy. It actually looked like they were having a conversation? They were too far away for Shanks to hear but Hancock levelled a glare at them while moving back to… let Buggy in?

“What...just happened?” Rockstar asks and honestly, Shanks would very much like to know the answer to that question as well.

“So… who was that anyways?” Yasopp asks a couple of minutes after the door closes. When Shanks shows no sign of moving.

“Buggy.” is all Shanks said like it explained everything, which for Shanks it did, but by the looks on his friends and teammates faces it wasn’t. “He’s my best friend, I haven’t seen him in a while though.” Shanks frowns at the thought, three years is more than just a _while_ especially for them. It was more like an eternity.

“If he’s your best friend, what does that make us?” Yasopp asks in good humor. Shanks was about to answer when someone cut him off.

“You’re Buggy’s friend?” a woman’s voice asked from behind him.

“Yes.” Shanks answers as he turns toward the speaker. He didn’t recognize her and her incredulous tone brought Shanks’s hackles up. He was Buggy’s friend, best friend. They’ve been friends since they were kids. Not that they were given a choice at first considering that their foster fathers were best friends and always brought them with them whenever the grown-ups would get together. But after a while, they became the best of friends, like brothers even. He was brought out of his thoughts by a verbal slap to the face.

“I lived with Buggy for a year and never heard him speak of you.” Shanks isn’t going to lie that hurt a little, but it also brought up more questions. Buggy knew he was here? Wait of course he did after all Buggy was the first one he told when he got his acceptance letter. Why didn’t he contact him? Was he avoiding him? If so why? They used to share everything. What went wrong? Not to mention Buggy has been here for a year? Shanks hadn’t heard anything, not even from Roger who usually kept him in the loop about whatever Buggy was up to.

“Whatever.” Frustrated by the lack of a response Alvida huffs and stomps up to the door. Leaving them with a parting shot as she walks into the Amazon Lily.

“I suggest you leave before Hancock sends out her snake, or worse you embarrass yourself by trying to talk to someone who obviously wants nothing to do with you.” The door closed with a finality Shanks refused to believe it had anything to do with him.

“Shanks?” Benn asks.

“He’s my friend,” is all Shanks says as he settles in to wait. Classes were over and they didn’t have practice today. He had all night and men weren’t allowed in sororities past 9 o’clock anyways. Shanks can wait. _It’s been three years; I can wait a few hours more._

Most of the group headed out after that they had things to do after all. Benn, Yasopp, and Lucky Roux waited for a bit trying to convince him to go. That since he knew his friend was there now he could track him down later, but Shanks couldn’t, he just had this feeling that if he left now he might not get another chance. Seeing the stubborn set of his face they ended up leaving first. His friends had other things to do after all. A few people waved as they passed but Shanks was mostly left alone. He was tempted to try to do homework but didn’t want to risk missing Buggy and he knew he would have to redo it anyways with the lack of ability to think about anything unrelated to Buggy.

Shanks was excited to see his friend again, but nervous as well, it had been years after all. And...Buggy seemed...off earlier. It made Shanks even more nervous about seeing Buggy. He was so… non-reactive. Sure he yelled at him, but that was it. One shouted sentence with, for Buggy, a very mild insult. For crying out loud he called him tomato head, not tomato bastard or tomato asshole, _tomato head_. Tomato head was something Buggy used in elementary school before he learned the joy of swear words. It definitely came off as more of a bark than a bite. It was like he was too focused on something else than responding to Shanks.

The more he thought about their interaction the more confused Shanks became. Taking out his phone Shanks started to list things out just to get some of his thoughts organized.

  * When did Buggy come back exactly?
  * What has he been doing since he’s been gone?
  * When did he start attending Grand Line University 
    * What was his major?
    * Had he even picked one yet?
  * Did he tell Roger he was back 
    * If he did why hadn’t Roger told him
    * If he hadn’t why?
  * Why did he leave without warning to begin with?
  * Why hadn’t he contacted him
  * Why was he avoiding Shanks?



He had more but that last one had him pausing because that’s what it came down to. Buggy had been avoiding Shanks, for years at this point, and Shanks just wanted to know why. Snapping his head up from his phone at the sound of the door finally opening. Shanks finally gets to see Buggy for the first time in years. His blue hair regrown since the last time he saw him. It was pulled up into a messy bun and bright red lip he started wearing regularly their senior year. He was wearing Roger’s old over-sized GLU sweatshirt, black fitted jeans and sneakers. It was a familiar look. The over-sized sweatshirt was still huge but smaller on Buggy now. _I wonder if my sweatshirt would look just as big._ Something about that thought made Shanks's gut tighten. Shaking off the weird feeling an easy smile pulls at Shank’s lip until he notices Buggy looking around carefully for something. More like he was checking to make sure no one was there to catch him in the act after setting a prank rather than just looking around.

Facing falling Shanks adds it as evidence that Buggy has been intentionally ignoring him. He had the thought before over the years but still not liking it. Especially with such clear evidence right in front of him. Shanks stands up as Buggy makes his way down the steps. It’s not until Buggy physically slams into him does he realize that, while Shanks could see through the hedge sitting down, it probably hid Shanks from Buggy’s view. Reaching out to steady him proves unnecessary as Buggy quickly regains his feet and steps back from him. Resisting the urge to pull him back closer Shanks opens his mouth to speak once again getting cut off. Seriously what was with people not letting him talk today?

“What do you want, asshole?” Buggy hissed, his body language attempting to display hostility. Shanks had to smile. That was the Buggy Shanks knew. Buggy was always so prickly, even more so when he wasn’t sure of himself. Why he was unsure of himself in front of Shanks was just another question to add to the growing list of questions he already had.

“I want to make sure you were ok.” Shanks shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets. “Amazon Lily isn’t known for its hospitality towards those of the opposite sex,” not the real reason but a true reason nonetheless, and with how skittish Buggy looks avoiding the Zou in the room might keep Buggy from bolting. Not that Shanks couldn’t catch up to him, but he would rather not scare Buggy off in the first place.

“Well, I’m fine. Obviously.” Buggy says crossing his arms and turning away from Shanks. Obviously trying for derisive but ends up missing it by a mile. Instead, it sounds nervous, in fact, Buggy’s whole body language screams nervous. Checking for things that could be causing it he realizes just how close he was to Buggy, almost looming over him. Shanks almost forgot how big their height gap was. _Stupid_. Chastising himself, Shanks relaxes his own stance, hunching a little and leaning on his back foot giving Buggy some room.

“Yes, I suppose you are.” a sincere warmth wraps around Shanks’s words causing the tip of Buggy’s ears to turn red. _So cute._ “And it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. I wanted to catch up a bit.” Shanks himself became nervous. What if Buggy said no? What if he pushed Shanks away? “It's just that it's been years Bugs and, and I’ve missed you. Just for a little while? Please?” Hunching further and giving his best puppy dog eyes he waits for Buggy’s answer.

“Fine. Fine, damn it. Just get that creepy look off your face.” Buggy’s grouses, throwing up his arms as he gives in. Doing a mental fist pump Shanks slings his arm around Buggy shoulders. He notices the slight flinch but Buggy doesn’t shove him off. Taking that as a win he keeps his arm there as he stirs Buggy towards the parking lot where he left his car that morning.

“I thought you wanted to talk?” Buggy asks face pointed away from Shanks even as his body relaxes into Shanks’s side. Smiling at the small victory, Shanks answers his question. “I do. I’m also starved.” Shanks feels Buggy stop as they finally arrive at Shanks’s car.

“Holy shit you still have that hunk of junk?” Buggy exclaims. Taking in the cherry red Jeep.

“Oi rude. Speed is a classic and is running better than ever. I’ll have you know.” Shanks responds, mock offended, as he unlocks the car throwing his bag in the back before getting in and reaching across and opening the passenger side door for Buggy. Pulling it the rest of the way open Buggy shakes his head as he slides in. Twisting to drop his bag behind the seat like he always did when Shanks drove them home after school.

“Oh it runs, but the passenger door still only opens from the inside?” “It’s part of her charm, I can’t get rid of it now,” Shanks laughs as he starts the car and pulls out of the lot. “Are _you_ hungry?” Shanks asks even as he tries to decide where to take them.

“I could eat.” Which in Buggy means he’s starved. Smiling even wider, Shanks heads towards one of his favorite diners. Not wanting to turn a conversation into an interrogation Shanks turns the music on instead, blasting one of Rayleigh's old CD’s as they make their way towards Komugi Island, one of the many restaurants of the Totto Land chain. While known for their donuts it also had plenty of other options if one was looking for a full meal. Out of the corner of his eye Shanks watches as Buggy rolls down the window and watches as Buggy’s long hair whip around him as he takes down his hair before quickly twisting it back into a more proper bun.

“It looks longer.” Shanks says, mostly to himself.

“What?” turning down the music as Buggy rolls up the window, probably finding it too cold this late on a September night.

“I said it looks longer. Your hair, it looks longer than it did in high school.” Shanks adds.

“Yeah I guess it has.” Buggy’s voice had a tone of melancholy in it that Shanks didn’t like, but Shanks couldn’t find anything else to say as he pulled into Komugi Island’s parking lot. Getting out of the car, Shanks trails behind Buggy as they make their way into the diner.

* * *

“What do you want, asshole?” Buggy hissed after he steadied himself. The sooner he can chase off Shanks the better.

“I want to make sure you were okay.” Shanks shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets. “Amazon Lily isn’t known for its hospitality towards those of the opposite sex.” No, they are not, but apparently being an errand boy for Hancock’s girlfriend is enough to get a free pass. And of course, Shanks would want to see if he was okay, the bleeding heart.

“Well, I’m fine. Obviously.” Buggy says crossing his arms and turning away from Shanks. It was so hard to look at him.

“Yes, I suppose you are.” The sheer _warmth_ of Shank’s words caused the tip of Buggy’s ears to turn red. He just sounded so _soft_. Every second longer in his presence was just another chip in the wall Buggy built around himself. “And it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. I wanted to catch up a bit. It's just that it's been years Bugs and, and I’ve missed you. Just for a little while? Please?” Buggy watches as Shanks hunches in on himself. Oh, the damn bastard. Not fair, not _fair_ at all to use those puppy dog eyes on him.

“Fine. Fine, damn it. Just get that creepy look off your face.” Buggy’s grouses, throwing up his arms as he gives in. Buggy flinches as Shanks slings his arm around his shoulders. The weight is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Buggy complies as Shanks begins to lead him down the street.

“I thought you wanted to talk?” Buggy asks, face pointed away from Shanks clinging to the smallest thing to help keep up the wall he put between himself and Shanks even as he ignores his body relaxing into Shanks’s side.

“I do. I’m also starved.” Buggy stops when he catches which car is Shanks’s.

“Holy shit you still have that hunk of junk?” Buggy exclaims. It was Speed. Shanks’s first car. The one that drove them to school, work, or anywhere they wanted to go. Or in Shanks’s case dates. Buggy smacks the thought away, he was supposed to be over being jealous of the people Shanks kissed.

“Oi rude. Speed is a classic and is running better than ever. I’ll have you know.” Shanks responds, mock offended, going through the same motions he did since he got the car. Twisting to drop his bag behind the seat Buggy buckled his seat belt.

“Oh it runs, but the passenger door still only opens from the inside?” Buggy asks in disbelief.

“It’s part of her charm, I can’t get rid of it now,” Shanks laughs as he starts the car and pulls out of the lot. “Are _you_ hungry?” Shanks asks.

“I could eat.” While Buggy did get some food it was a lot or particularly filling either. Shanks flips on his radio and it starts blasting what Buggy recognizes as one of Rayleigh’s old CD’s. Buggy rolls down the window and his hair whips around him as he takes down his hair before quickly twisting it back into a more proper bun.

“What?” Buggy asks as he hears Shanks say something. Shanks turns down the music and Buggy rolls up his window, the wind a little too chilly for him to keep open for long.

“I said it looks longer. Your hair, it looks longer than it did in high school.” Shanks says clearer this time.

“Yeah I guess it has.” Buggy thinks about how long it got in high school and just how short it was when he left. It was horrible as he grew it back out he made sure to take extra good care of it. He was shocked to see just how much longer he could grow it out. They pulled up to a very pastel looking diner. It took Buggy a moment to recognize the place. He always wanted to try their doughnuts. They looked delicious. Buggy got out first and headed for the door leaving Shanks to catch up.

They’re seated fairly quickly. Looks like they missed the dinner rush. The silence continues as they both peruse the menu. Buggy tries to not let it get to him. Buggy may have been a big talker but Shanks was always the more _chatty_ of the two; it was odd for him to be this quiet. It left Buggy feeling restless. Looking over his menu to peek at Shanks only to lock eyes with the redhead instead. He resists the urge to duck back down.

“What?” the question came out more accusingly than intended. But Shanks just stares, no goofy grin, no careless shrug brushing off Buggy’s attitude. Buggy feels like a slide under a microscope. Buggy almost says something else.

“You’re nervous,” a statement, not a question, but a fact.

“Am not.” Buggy blusters giving into the impulse this time and pulls the menu up to cover his face.

“No, you are.” Shanks says with a certainty Buggy has never had. “Have been ever since I saw you in front of Amazon Lily. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. It’s just me Bugs.” _Oh jeez. That’s right, ‘it’s just you.’ The person who can read me like a book without any effort at all. The person I ran away from because I was too much of a coward to face after_ … Stopping the thought. Buggy simply says.

“It’s been a while, is all.” His response, while muffled by the menu, seems to make its way across the table as Shanks slumps back long legs brushing against Buggy’s as their owner relaxes into their seat.

“True,” Shanks agrees, seeming to want to say more. But as the waitress comes by to take their orders Buggy misses his chance to ask. The easy flirting between the two annoys Buggy, can’t she see he’s here with someone. _It’s not like you two are on a date_ a voice whispers from the back of his head. Between the nervousness and the unwanted thought Buggy’s order comes out terse. The tone seems to go over the waitress's head, but not Shanks’s if the raised eyebrow is anything to go by. Without the menu to hide behind Buggy instead looks out the window to avoid Shanks’s gaze. Shanks’s sigh comes out 1 part exasperated and 2 parts resigned.

* * *

Shanks barely looks at the menu he already knows what he wants. Instead, he lets himself take in Buggy the brighter lights of the diner letting him see more details than the street lights outside. He sees the light bronze around buggy’s yes and the thin lines of eyeliner. One of Buggy’s more subdued looks. He also notices the sharper lines the smallest bits of baby fat shed within the last three years. He also takes in the bigger picture like the small but constant shifts of Buggy’s legs. The light tapping of the menu as he reads it. Suddenly Buggy turns his attention towards him. Shanks doesn’t look away, just stares and watches as Buggy’s nervousness increases.

“What?” Buggy spits out. Once again trying to hide behind his bark. He should know that doesn’t work on Shanks. Never has.

“You’re nervous,” Shanks says, finally voicing the thing that has bugged him the most since running into Buggy.

“Am not.” Buggy blusters as he pulls the menu up to cover his face.

“No, you are.” Shanks says with certainty. He may not know why Buggy has been avoiding him, he knows Buggy. “Have been ever since I saw you in front of Amazon Lily. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. It’s just me Bugs.” They’ve been with each other basically all of their lives. They’ve been there through every high and low. For fucks sake they survived the horrors of puberty together. What could it possibly be about Shanks that is making Buggy react like Shanks is a stranger?

“It’s been a while, is all.” Buggy mumbles. Slumped close to the table.

“True,” Shanks agrees it has been a while, but that isn’t really Shanks’s fault. He’s getting kind of annoyed that Buggy keeps shying away from him and Shanks knows Buggy is _hiding_ something from him as well.

The waitress comes by to take their orders. She’s friendly which is nice. Most of the waitresses, in his experience, are quite grumpy by this time. A smile can go a long way in making someone's night just a little bit better. Speaking of grumpy, Buggy seems to have found an issue with the waitress's good cheer. A sigh slips as his lips. As Buggy avoids his gaze the way he used to do when knew he reacted poorly in a social situation but didn’t want to admit it. Foregoing the usual scolding feeling like it would only negatively affect the conversation Shanks decides a slightly more important topic of conversation.

“So what exactly were you doing at Amazon Lily in the first place?” Shanks asks half as a way of shifting topics and half because he’s genuinely curious at how Buggy managed to be the first man to enter and leave the Snake Pit without needing to call both an ambulance and animal control. How Hancock still has that snake on campus is a mystery to him.

“I was just there to drop off some of Alvida’s things that she left at the apartment.” That was probably the name of the woman from earlier. “Her move into both Hancock’s good graces and the Sorority house were very quick. I didn’t want to deal with her coming back to look for something months down the line. Getting this month's rent out of her was hard enough.” Buggy’s face suddenly contorts in disgust. “Ugh. I’m going to have to start roommate searching again. Shit.” Buggy’s head hitting the table. Shanks chuckles at Buggy’s theatrics. As always some bitching gets Buggy in a better mood.

“Really?” Shanks asks, trying to hide his rising glee. _Oh this could be perfect._ A way to get closer to Buggy again and solve his living situation.

“Yes. This is going to suck. Last time it took forever to find a roommate that wasn’t a creep or complete shit and Alvida was only half shit. I mean seriously how hard is it to put the dishes in the dishwasher and start it if you see its full. And don’t get me started on the bathroom. It only has room for one beauty queen and it sure as shit wasn’t me after she moved in.” Buggy stops mid-rant to glare suspiciously at Shanks as their meal is deposited in front of them. “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?” Shanks asks innocently knowing full well exactly what his face looks like.

“Like you just came up with a prank idea and are fully confident that you won’t get caught. Which may I remind you we almost always got caught because of your dumbass.” Buggy says not easing his glare one bit even as he begins to eat his food. Shanks does the same as he begins to voice his thoughts. It might be a challenge, but Shanks was never one to back away from one when he wanted something. And he has wanted Buggy back in his life ever since he left.

“Well do you remember hearing about that massive fire on the News Coo about a month ago?”

“You mean the one that took out the Baterilla apartments?” Buggy asks, confusion added to his continued suspicion.

“Yeah, them. Well, that’s where me and a couple of my friends were living. One of them already found a new place and another moved in with a different friend so I’ve been couch surfing.” Shanks watched as understanding crossed Buggy’s face.

“No.” Buggy was always quick even if Shanks was being pretty obvious about it.

“Oh come on Buggy, please. You just said you need a new roommate. And you know me and I’m not complete shit. In fact, I’ll probably be the best roommate you ever had. We basically lived together our entire childhood. Even more so if Rayleigh or Roger had to go on a trip.”

“Shanks, no. We were constantly getting into fights as kids over the stupidest shit too, and,” Buggy pointing at Shanks harshly, “that was with someone there to mediate them.”

“That was when we were kids. I’m sure we can handle it now.” Shanks says shrugging off Buggy’s argument. “And besides I've been staying at the Whitebeard fraternity with Marco and you know how he is and what their parties are like. I haven’t been able to study properly or get a good night rest since.” Marco despite the low blood sugar was an early riser and had a tendency of kicking Shanks awake. While Whitebeard parties were known for their frequency and were rowdy as hell when they got going.

“Please? Buggy I’m begging you here. I’ll get on my knees if I have to.” Shanks said as he shifted back his chair as if he was about to get on the floor. Shanks wasn’t above fighting dirty and drawing that kind of attention is a good way to get Buggy flustered enough to speak before he thinks.

* * *

And oh if that wasn’t a pretty picture. That Buggy very much did not _need_. He was trying to stay firm. They were like oil and water as kids, this could only end in disaster. He couldn’t live with Shanks, it would be too much and a waste of the past three years. If he gives in now then what was the fucking point of leaving in the first place. But Buggy was always weak to Shanks and as much as he might pretend he could resist the redhead puppy eyes the truth is he could never say no to them and after three years any resistance he once had is completely gone. It’s how he ended up in so much trouble over the years. Hell, they’re what got him into Shanks’s car instead of telling Shanks to piss off as he should have. At least I won’t have to worry about rent or doing the usual screening process. The thought does little to console him as he looks into Shanks eyes as he completely shatters his ‘don’t involve shanks’ embargo.

“Fine, but,” cutting Shanks off before he could say anything. “We are setting some ground rules. You break any of them and I’m tossing you on your ass. Got it?” Trying to maintain even a scrap of distance.

“Yes, Sir!” Shanks salutes with his fork before going back to stuffing his face while wearing a truly stupid grin. Giving up any pretense Buggy sighs in true defeat. Buggy turns back to his own meal, and wonders what he did to be punished like this. They end up splitting the bill after a minor argument and Buggy gracefully ( _not_ ) concedes to a ride home if only because Shanks needed to know the address anyways. He doesn’t let Shanks walk him to the door though. It felt too romantic to him and the less of those events happening the better for his heart.

* * *

Humming as he makes his way past the usual litany of drunkards. Shanks practically skips as he makes his way to the room he’s been sharing with Marco. He not only got to meet Buggy again, he also got his number, but the best part is that he gets to live with Buggy again. Now he doesn’t have to worry about where to sleep next before he exhausts his friends’ patience.

“Keep it down, yoi,” comes a disgruntled groan from the nest of blankets on the bed. Giving a quiet laugh Shanks gets ready for bed and lets himself fall onto his borrowed air mattress. Pulling the blanket up he decides he can tell Marco the good news tomorrow the man sounds completely asleep and Shanks doesn’t want to experience another “Phoenix Kick” again if can help it. Instead, Shanks eases into sleep knowing tomorrow would be a much better day indeed.


	2. New Roommate, Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's move in day! Let's see how our boys cope and how the news goes over with their friends shall we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright second chapter. Thank you to everyone who commented they made me really happy to read! I don't think I mentioned last time but there will be swearing. They were raised by Roger and Rayleigh they really can't help it. Okay enough of me talking. Enjoy!

Shanks wakes with the jostle of his mattress as Marco makes his way out of the room. Grunting as he stretches he leisurely gets ready for his day, it was Saturday so no classes and practice didn’t start till afternoon. Going back into the room after using the bathroom he starts packing up the rest of his clothes and other odds and ends he brought with him. Doing a second sweep giving a mental thanks that Marco is such a neat person and the small space leaves him confident he got everything.

Making his way down to the kitchen he drops everything on the floor before stealing a seat and a plate. As much as he loves the idea of having his own place again he will sorely miss Thatch’s cooking. The only one Shanks knows who cooks just as well is Lucky Roux. Speaking of the man he stops by to drop more food on Shanks's plate before asking.

“What’s with the stuff? Going to bum somewhere else?” A few heads turn between the pile of stuff and Shanks.

“Nope, I found a place to live, so I figured I’d get out of your fabulous hair” Shanks laughed.

“Where, yoi? I don’t remember you saying anything about Rayleigh getting back to you?” Marco asks, pulling himself out of his coffee cup. _Must be his third if he’s actually talking._ Shanks thinks.

“I didn't, I ran into Buggy yesterday, turns out his roommate got a girlfriend and she moved in with her so he needs a new roommate anyways.”

“Wait, Buggy? You’re best friend Buggy? The one no one has seen in years? That Buggy?” Thatch asks. Shanks pouted at the questions he knew how long it's been since he’s seen Buggy he didn’t need the reminder.

“That’s lucky. Are you headed over there now? It’s kind of early, yoi” Marco said completely ignoring Thatch. The question made Shanks pause. Looking at the clock he saw it was only 8:30 which might as well be 5 am for some people. He was so excited he didn’t even think about that and Buggy was always more of a night owl. They didn’t really go into the specific yesterday either.

“Damn, you’re right. I’ll give him a call and see if it's okay.” Digging out his phone he pulls up Buggy’s contact info before tapping the call button. It gets to the fifth ring before what is quite obviously a very grumpy Buggy picks up the phone.

“Who the fuck is calling me at the ass crack of dawn!” Leaning away from the phone as Shanks is loudly reminded that yes Buggy is not only a night owl but gets very pissed when woken anytime before he wishes to be awake.

“Not awake then, yoi” Marco remarks from behind the rim of his mug, the smug pineapple on it matching its owner perfectly. Shanks sticks his tongue out at the other man before responding to Buggy.

“It’s me, Buggy. Sorry, I woke you.” Shanks apologized but a phone call was probably better than just showing up at the apartment. “I just realized that we didn’t set up a time for me to move in and I don’t have the apartment number either so I thought I should call before heading over.” Muffled swearing and the ruffle of sheets is his only response. The silence of the room allowed for the continued ease of overhearing Buggy’s voice as he finally answered Shanks.

“Right that actually happened.” The sound of a door opening and soft footsteps accompany the words.

“What did you think it was, a dream?” Shanks teases fluttering his lashes even though he knows Buggy can’t see him, a smirk forming as he waits for the usual comeback.

“More like a nightmare.” Buggy snaps. Half asleep and still so quick with the comebacks. “You woke me up, you sunshine bastard. Might as well get it over with. I’ll send you the address you just get your early bird dumbass over here so we can get this sorted out and I can go back to bed.” The sentence ends with a big slurp of what Shanks can only assume is coffee. He didn’t even hear him pour it into a cup.

“Buggy are you drinking straight from the pot again?” How Buggy could stand something that hot Shanks didn’t want the answer to.

“No, from the bottle if I’m going to be dealing with you this early.” So snappish. That’s his Buggy.

“Aw love you to Buggy,” the sound of choking could be heard. Before Buggy can regain his breath Shanks gets out a quick “See you soon,” laughing as he hangs up. Noticing the stares Shanks sends them a raised brow in return. “What?”

“Sounds like he’s still the same as ever,” Thatch says.

“Huh? Oh yeah, You know what Buggy is like especially when he just wakes up. I’ll grab some food on my way over. It should keep him from stabbing me again.” Marco laughed with him given that he was there when he was stabbed.

“Are you sure you want to move in with him, yoi?” Marco asks, remembering that while Buggy and Shanks, at the end of the day, were good friends they also fought like cats and dogs.

“Do you want me to stay, sleeping on your bedroom floor, any longer?” Shanks asks in disbelief.

“No, yoi. But if he ends up kicking you out don’t come crying to me” Marco sighed.

“Wait back up. He’s stabbed you before?” Thatch asks. Sounding very concerned eyes focusing on the three sacred lines over Shanks’s eye.

“Right. It was before you joined the family, yoi.” Marco says.

“That wasn’t him,” Shanks responds to Thatch’s unasked question. “It was mostly an accident. It was kinda more my fault than his really. I mean. Thinking about it now, asking your best friend to show you a knife trick and then not give them room to do said knife trick probably isn’t the smartest idea. Especially given the fact we were both only 11 at the time and he was practicing said trick for only a week beforehand. Buggy got real careful after that.” Shanks muses out loud, hand rubbing his shoulder where the actual scar rests. Ignoring both the incredulous look Thatch was giving him and the ‘done with your shit’ one from Marco he shrugs his shoulders before he grabs his bags gives Marco a quick thanks for letting him stay and makes his way to Buggy’s place. To _his_ and Buggy’s place.

* * *

Buggy wakes to the sound of his phone going off. Given the fact that he didn’t have anywhere to be today and both Cabaji and Mohji know better than to call him before noon. So he’s just a _tiny bit c_ ranky when he sees that it is a phone call, not an alarm, and not an unknown number so he should probably answer it.

“Who the fuck is calling me at the ass crack of dawn!” He yells as he picks up the phone

“It’s me, Buggy. Sorry, I woke you. I just realized that we didn’t set up a time for me to move in and I don’t have the apartment number either so I thought I should call before heading over.” The memory of yesterday comes to the forefront. Buggy swears as he gets out of bed.

“Right that actually happened.” Buggy says as he makes his way to the kitchen as starts his precious Keurig coffee machine.

“What did you think it was, a dream?” Shanks teases. _Bastard._ Buggy can hear the smirk.

“More like a nightmare.” Buggy snaps. “You woke me up, you sunshine bastard. Might as well get it over with. I’ll send you the address you just get your early bird dumbass over here so we can get this sorted out and I can go back to bed.” Grabbing the cup Buggy takes a gulp, hoping the caffeine will give him the clarity he desperately needs.

“Buggy are you drinking straight from the pot again?” Shanks asks.

“No, from the bottle if I’m going to be dealing with you this early.” Buggy retorts.

“Aw love you to Buggy, See you soon.” Buggy is still choking as Shanks’s laugh comes through the phone just before he hangs up. Buggy could do without the love confession, even as a joke. _ ~~Especially because it was a joke.~~_ He didn’t need any more fodder for his overactive imagination, thank you very much. Quickly sending the full address Buggy sets his phone down, staring at it like it might jump up and bite him if he takes his eyes off of it. Reality slowly sinking in as the caffeine hit his system. _I can’t believe this. I can't believe I'm actually doing this._ Shanks is moving in with him. Like actually moving in with him. It's great that he doesn’t have to worry about rent but...it’s _Shanks,_ and they're going to live in this tiny two-bedroom apartment. Where the walls are as thin as paper if that single horrid night that Hancock decided to come over was anything to go by. After that Alvida always went over to Amazon Lily and two weeks later moved in permanently. Hell, now that he thinks about it, if they didn’t run the dishwasher he could hear Alvida _breath_ from the other side of the wall. Apparently whatever soundproofing they had between the apartments left nothing left over for soundproofing _in_ the apartments.

The coffee wasn’t really helping, maybe he should actually pull out something stronger? Shaking his head to dislodge the thought, Buggy glances around the kitchen finding the dishes from yesterday still in the sink. Giving them a quick rinse he puts them in the dishwasher and starts it. Looking for anything else to keep him busy ends with him going through his makeup looking for expired products and brushes to wash. When his phone goes off he nearly knocks it off the counter. Picking up the phone and seeing the large ‘Menace’ across the screen, the contact name Buggy had for Shanks since they were kids, brings back the panic he just got under control again he swipes to answer Shank’s call.

“Hey Bugs, I’m here.” Shanks gets out first. Buggy holds back a whimper a flood of emotion threatens to consume him at the words. He wanted to hear those words so much when he first left that he actually chucked his phone into the nearest body of water so he wouldn’t even be tempted to call Shanks. Not even one whole day of Shanks back in his life and Buggy wants to crumble. “Bugs?” The question drew him back.

“Yeah, got that. I’ll come down and let you in.” Getting the words out quickly so he can hang up. Buggy takes a steadying breath coming back fully to the present. He grabs his keys and slips on a pair of shoes before heading out. Walking down the two flights of stairs Buggy makes his way out the door spotting Shanks to the left setting a bag down to reach for something inside the car. Figuring he could grab a bag Buggy walks over. As Shanks turns around the smell syrup and strawberries hits Buggy’s nose.

“What’s this?” Buggy asks as he takes the food as Shanks pushes it towards him.

“Breakfast.”

“What are you trying to do? Bribe me?” Buggy snorts peeking inside the bag seeing several containers.

“Yep, figured it might help later for negotiation,” Shanks says as he rolls his eyes. “No, you doof it’s an apology for waking you up,” Shanks says, grabbing the bags he placed down earlier and closing the door with his hip. Leading the way Buggy holds open the door letting Shanks pass by as he tells him which floor they're on. Bypassing Shanks on the landing to open the apartment door. Placing the food on the table he gives a small tour before directing Shanks to his new room. Letting him sort himself out Buggy makes way to the table digging into the food. It's not often Buggy has this kind of breakfast, finding himself too lazy to spend that much energy in the morning. As he eats he grabs the notepad usually used for the shopping lists he starts writing the rules he can think of off the top of his head.

* * *

Following Buggy Shanks drops his bags in his new room and takes stock. There was only the bed left in the room and it looks like Alvida had taken the rest of the furniture with her, even the bedding, given the bare mattress and lack of pillows. It was a queen which means Shanks could actually fit on the bed. Unlike the air mattresses, Marco had that left Shanks feet dangling off the end of it. Or worse the couches. Being tall had its benefits but a multitude of comfortable sleeping spots was not one of them. Throwing his bags into the closet and his backpack by the bed. Taking a quick peek into the hall closet that Buggy labelled as the linen closet he finds towels, a few blankets, a neon pink sheet set, but no extra pillows. Grimacing at the color Shanks shrugs off the rest, a real bed is more than he got in the past month. Practice ends at 3 today at the very least he can get some bedding and leave the rest of the furniture shopping for tomorrow.

Tossing his toiletries next to the sink carefully avoiding Buggy’s makeup collection he makes his way back to the kitchen. Finding Buggy with a pad of paper in front of him and chewing on the end of the pencil careful to keep his lips away from the object, a habit he traded for when he started wearing lipstick regularly and didn’t want to reapply it so often just because he would bite his lower lip when concentrating.

_‘It’s a waste, Shanks. My allowance isn’t limitless, you know.’ Buggy’s glower smoothing out as he reapplied the soft pink color he chose that day._ Shanks found he liked watching Buggy apply his makeup ever since Buggy started wearing makeup. The care and precision of the act always seemed… he didn’t know, private? Personal. Buggy didn’t mind showing off his work, but he didn’t like to be watched during the process. That was something that he only let Shanks do. Smiling at the memory. His attention is drawn when he hears the pencil being put down. Moving fully into the dining room Shanks pulls out a chair and joins Buggy at the table.

“So have you decided on the rules of this endeavor, my oh so generous benefactor?” Shanks mocks grabbing the notebook Buggy thrust at him, Shanks pulls it towards him and reads.

Rules

  * No bringing partners over to spend the night (the walls are way too damn thin)
  * If having guests over inform the other at least an hour beforehand (i don’t want to come home and find a bunch of strangers)
  * Keep the shared place clean (what your room looks like is your business)
  * No barging into each other’s room (if you knock you wait for a response)
  * Rinse the dishes before you put them in the dishwasher (and if you see its full/done do something about it)
  * Don’t touch _**any**_ of my shit in the especially in the bathroom
  * If you need to borrow something either let me know or replace it if necessary
  * If you're spending the night out let the other know
  * If you even think about having a party I will gladly lose my deposit to the blood stains from using you as a target for throwing practice again.



Most of it was basic roommate stuff, and the chores seemed to be the same as when they were kids. The bathroom rule reminded him of the summers when Roger and Rayleigh would take turns going on business trips or other long term travelling that they couldn’t bring kids with them. They would leave their own kid with the other. He remembers the day he accidentally ruined one of Buggy’s first palettes that he worked so hard to save for. He winced at the memory. Yeah, Shanks definitely earned that black eye. It took Shanks an entire month to get back in Buggy’s good graces.

The last one made him laugh. Shanks did like to go to parties, but he wasn’t exactly fond of hosting them. In fact he didn’t really like having a bunch of people who he only knows tangentially in his private space either, so not having parties at the apartment was fine by him. That did bring up a question though.

“What’s the difference between having guests and a party?”

“The noise level, amount of alcohol consumption and the number of people.” Buggy lists.

“So max number of people?” Buggy actually takes a second to answer, probably thinking over how many people, who he didn’t know, he could actually tolerate.

“3 or 4 excluding us.” That was enough to invite his closest friends over. So Shanks was good with that. Now that they all had places again they could start up their weekly poker game sessions. Thinking of which.

“So me and three of my friends have ongoing poker games changing the place every week that’s kinda been on hold ever since the fire. Would it be okay to have a game here once a month?” The way his nose scrunches tells Shanks how much Buggy doesn’t like the idea.

“Which day of the week?”

“Fridays since we don’t have practice.”

“That should be fine just make sure you put which week your hosting on the calendar. So I can not be here for it.” Shanks is pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to hear the last part. As much as Shanks wants all of his friends to get along he knows not letting Buggy handle it at his own pace will only lead to disaster so he doesn’t comment.

“Calendar?” Shanks asks.

“Oh, right I haven’t shown you that yet. But before that any other questions about what’s on there?”

“Yeah, When’s the last time you actually practiced with your knives. If it's going to be your go to for any flagrant rule-breaking I want to know exactly how likely it is that I'm going to be stabbed.”

“Yesterday” Buggy smirks.

“Right, better not push my luck then. So calendar?”

“Yeah it's over there,” Buggy says as he points behind and to the right of Shanks. Standing up Buggy grabs it off the wall and brings it to the table sitting down next to Shanks instead of across from him. Shanks looked and realized it still had Buggy’s old roommate schedule on it. “Shit, right. Might as well as start over completely,” wiping off the board. He also goes through the papers that were attached before throwing some away. “I tend to erase my stuff when I’m done with it or at the end of the week erase the entire week and update as space opens up.”

“Oh that’s smart.”

“I know. I’ll add my basic stuff real quick then you can fill yours in with whatever you're comfortable with or something you think you’ll need external reminders to get done.” Buggy picks up the blue marker and fills the board back in. Pulling out his phone Shanks pulls up his own schedule deciding to put most of it on the shared calendar. After all, he’s pretty sure it's mostly for Buggy’s peace of mind than anything else. Reading Buggy’s own schedule.

“Jeez, you are a nerd. I didn’t know the university had classes on Saturday.” Shanks jokes.

“They don't, asshole. Those are my exercise classes.'’ Buggy says rolling his eyes. Regular gym workouts were never of much interest to Buggy so the things that got him out of the house to exercise were always things like dance or circus acts. “Anything I’d be interested in?” Shanks asks. Buggy snorts. Shaking his head, dislodging some hair from its bun. It ended up blocking Buggy's face from view. But the red tip of an ear poked out denoting some embarrassment. _Interesting._ What kind of classes could Buggy be taking that could make him embarrassed?

"Doubt it. If the way you handled ballet was anything to go by. You thought you would share a class with the girls,” Buggy scoffs.

"Hey, I was 13." Shanks protests, taking the bait.

“ _And_ you sulked for a week when you found out they separated by ability." Buggy says getting one last jab in.

“Eh,” Shanks shrugs. Buggy was right, but the fact that Shanks wasn't even going to be in the same class as Buggy did kinda make the whole thing feel pointless. Buggy always had a certain grace to him not to mention bendy as hell.

It was actually the week before he tried out for rugby out of boredom and a little bit of spite. If Buggy was going to be spending time away from Shanks; he had to find a way to spend that time and it wasn’t going to be by himself. Despite their constant arguments and roughhousing Buggy wasn’t really fond of anything that resembled a physical confrontation. As scrappy as Buggy could be in a fight he would rather not be in one at all. So Shanks chose a contact sport. It was the closest he could get to the same kind of rush without getting into actual fights. Not that it _actually_ stopped him from getting into fights much to Rayleigh's exasperation and Roger’s amusement.

It was a blessing in disguise actually by the time they hit high school and puberty hit Shanks full force he found himself with a lot of energy to work off and Buggy got snappy with him if started roughhousing too much. Citing they weren’t kids anymore. At the time Shanks thought it was because he kept winning with all the advantages of being a rugby player and his growing height advantage. Buggy was a bit of a sore loser and having Shanks pin him down and literally rub his face in it probably didn’t help. He shrugged off back then and saved it for throwing Buggy in the pool.

Now that he is thinking about it, it was around that time that they started spending less time together. Shanks didn't notice back then too involved in his own life to notice his best friend wasn’t always by his side anymore. At school at least. Shanks took to sitting with his team barely noticed Buggy didn't sit with him at lunch anymore or that their sleepovers became less and less frequent. Shanks assumed that Buggy found his own group of friends, and didn’t want to deal with the headache of introducing them. The one time he brought up the idea of Buggy and his friends coming to sit with them he got a knife to the target by the door in response. An emphatic no if he ever saw one. But thinking about it now made Shanks wonder if he assumed wrong.

"Okay, I'm all done.” Buggy says as he put the cap on the marker.

“Now I'm going back to bed" Pushing back his chair and heading towards his room Buggy stops mid-step. "Right almost forgot." Pulling something out of his pocket and fiddles with it before gesturing for Shanks to hold out his hand. Doing so, Buggy drops two keys into his hand. ”Red is for the complex, blue is for the apartment. I got work tonight so don't worry if I'm not here when you get back."

"Got it." Gripping his new keys firmly Shanks grins at Buggy. Curious about where Buggy works, but knows better than to get between Buggy and his bed. Watching Buggy head to his room Shanks waits until the door closes. Adding his own schedule to the board he hangs it back up. Heading to his room to unpack and get started on the homework he should have done yesterday.

* * *

Closing the door behind him Buggy collapses into his bed. Tired not only from being woken so early but also by the emotional whiplash of Shanks moving in it. Handing over the keys really cemented the fact that his new roommate was Shanks. Shanks, his best friend, long time crush, and the person he travelled the world to get away from had literally just moved in with him. Only a day after just meeting again after three whole goddamn years of separation.

"Fuck! What is my life?" Buggy asks his bed as his face is shoved into the mattress. Pulling the blankets out from underneath him Buggy settles back down curling onto his side holding a spare pillow close to his chest. Following the pull of sleep Buggy absent-mindedly notes that despite the coffee, this is the easiest he fell asleep in years.

When he wakes it's to the same quiet that's been Buggy's norm even when Alvida was living with him. Their schedules were just so different that they barely saw each other even living in the same apartment. _Maybe it would be the same with Shanks._ And Buggy isn't sure if he should be relieved at the thought or disappointed. _Relieved. I'm relieved that I probably won't see much as Shanks. After all, it's not like this is going to be anything special to him. Shanks has been just fine without him. He's got plenty of friends._ He's sure Shanks will be too busy to worry about Buggy. _Just like in high school._ Shoving that bitter thought away Buggy grabs a change of clothes and a towel out of the linen closet on his way to the bathroom.

Throughout his usual routine, he notices the little things that mean he's really living with Shanks. Like the hair products, Shanks has been using since he was a teenager. The familiar handwriting on the calendar, written in red instead of the pink Alvida used. And most glaringly the note Shanks left on the table.

**Off to practice, have a good day at work.**

**-S**

Walking back to his room he notices that Shanks didn’t close the door and the lack of pillows on Shanks bed. Right, Alvida took those with her. Debating for a second Buggy grabs a pillow off of his own bed and sets it on the table before grabbing his dinner and scrawls his own addition to the note, leaving it on the pillow before heading to the club. Door firmly locked behind him

_Don't you dare track mud in. Try not to bleed too much. (p.s. you get it for one night no more)_

-🌟

* * *

“Hey, Captain,” Benn called as he rummaged around in his bag.

“Benn,” Shanks responds, pulling on his pants.

“Here.” Shanks turns to see Benn holding out a notebook. Shanks notebook. Damn, he must have forgotten it in Marco’s room. “I ran into Marco he said to give this to you given that he knew I’d see you before he did. When I asked why he didn’t just give it to you when you went back to the fraternity to sleep he told me you moved out,” hearing the statement as the question it was Shanks answered it as he laced up his shoes. Trying to ignore the feeling of being scolded for eating a cookie before dinner.

“Thanks and yeah, I found an apartment yesterday. I was going to tell you during lunch.” Shanks shrugged.

“Where do you live now?” Benn asked

“And are we throwing a party?” Yasopp throws in from the other end of the lockers. Everyone cheered at the suggestion.

“To answer your questions Orange Town and no, at least not at the actual apartment.” Jeering from the peanut gallery faded out as Shanks waved them out of the locker room.

“Sorry roommate rules. I’m not going to break one the first week of living there. I would prefer not to get tossed out on my ass again so soon either.” Grumbled murmurs of that’s fair and other agreements most of the team dispersed leaving Shanks with just his friends. Walking to the sitting area near the fitness complex the four of them sit down and pull out their lunches.

“Who is the roommate anyways? Anyone, we know?” Lucky Roux asks from around his turkey leg.

“Buggy.” Shanks answers, taking the time to actually swallow his food before responding.

“Buggy? You mean the blue-haired guy from yesterday? The one that told you to piss off?” Yasopp asked, looking for clarification.

“Yeah.” Shanks rolled his eyes. Buggy always left an impression even if he only said one sentence.

“How do you know him anyways?” Benn asks.

“I told you he was a friend,” Shanks responds confused.

“We got that, but a friend from where? You’ve never talked about him before and you seemed pretty shocked to see him. And he didn’t seem particularly friendly towards you.” Benn pointed out.

“What are you talking about? I talk about him all the time.” Shanks says. Marco was constantly telling Shanks to shut up about it. Ignoring the second part. He knows he talked about his childhood with them, ergo he must have talked about Buggy.

“The kid I grew up next to and was constantly getting into trouble with?” Shanks asks because he can’t believe with all the embarrassing stories that came up that Shanks wouldn’t have mentioned Buggy at least once. After all, Buggy was there for most of them.

“Was he the one who dyed your hair hot pink or was he the one who helped you break into your dad’s liquor cabinet?” Lucky Roux asked

“Both, well I broke into the cabinet by myself. He just helped me drink what I stole” Shanks smiles. That was a fun night who knew that Buggy was such a cuddly drunk. The morning after wasn’t nearly as fun between the hangover, scolding, and extra chores Shanks learned not to steal the entire bottle if he wanted to drink. “Honestly if you heard about a dumb story from my childhood and there were only two people involved it was probably Buggy. Did I seriously never use his name before?”

“Nope” Yasopp said, popping the p.

“Huh.” Shanks hums turning back to his food. He met all three that first training camp if they hadn’t heard Buggy’s name before yesterday that means he hadn’t said Buggy’s name out loud for three whole years. Why was that? Shanks knew being apart from Buggy changed him, but he didn’t realize that was a change he had made. It seemed like such a small thing not to say a name, but to talk about the person and not say their name for three whole years? That just left Shanks confused.

“Now that you have your own place again does this mean we can do Poker Night again?” Lucky Roux asks. Drawing Shanks back into the conversation.

“You know If your roommate is cool with it,” Yasopp adds.

“Yeah that’s fine, we already talked about it. He’s good with friends over so long as he’s warned about it beforehand and we keep the numbers low. I’d prefer it if it wasn’t my turn for a couple weeks though.” He wanted to give Buggy some time to adjust before he starts introducing his friends. One at a time would be best. Maybe he should invite Benn first, he's the most level headed or Lucky Roux as the kindest. Yasopp was definitely going to be last.

What was it they did when introducing cats to someone new? Have them sniff each other through the door? The image of Buggy wearing cat ears and a tail flashes across his mind. Shanks shakes his head to dislodge the thought.

Finishing their food they break out their homework even if they can’t always help each other out. It was better than studying alone. It was five o’clock by the time they called it quits. Lucky Roux and Yasopp headed out leaving a curious Shanks with Benn. While they can and have hung out after practice before they usually had plans worked out beforehand and from the look on Benn’s face, it doesn’t look like he wants to hang out. Actually, that was Benn’s ‘we need to talk face’. It was the same look the morning after Benn found Shanks absolutely smashed. In Shanks’s defence, it was the week after his 20th birthday and it hit Shanks that it would be the third year in a row Buggy wasn’t there for his birthday and that most likely he wouldn’t be there for Buggy’s. Funny his drunk prediction was right but they ended up meeting again a year afterwards.

“What’s up?” Shanks asks.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you avoiding some things,” Benn says.

“What are you talking about,” Shanks asks, continuing to avoid the conversation.

“Shanks.” Benn says face as flat as his voice. “We had no idea who he was and you seemed pretty shocked to see him. So when you said you hadn’t seen him in a while, how long exactly was a while?”

“3 years 1 month 2 weeks and 2 days.” Shanks says with zero hesitation bracing his hands on the table as he leaned back eyes unfocusing. He used to count the hours and minutes but after the second year mark he stuck to the days. Any smaller and it felt like his chest would cave in.

“He didn’t react like someone who was reuniting with a friend either. Did you guys have a falling out?” Benn asks concern coloring his tone.

“What no! At least I don’t think we did. I..I’m not entirely sure what happened. Everything was fine, but the week before camp started I woke up and Buggy was gone. Roger had to be the one to tell me that he was taking a gap year.”

“Roger? Your dad's business partner?” Shanks nods as Benn’s question.

“And Buggy’s dad. Like I said we grew up together. Mostly because Rayleigh and Roger were close friends. They literally bought houses next to each other. We’ve been together for almost as long as I can remember. Neither of us made the best first impressions on one another and were constantly butting heads.” Shanks laughs with the flood of memories. “But don’t let his attitude fool you. He’s mostly bark. As Shakky would describe it whenever Buggy would pick a fight; it was like watching a pomeranian trying to intimidate a labrador.”

“So your best friend from childhood disappeared on you, for over three years and you have no idea why?” Shanks shakes his head. “And nothing major happened beforehand that you can think of that would cause him to up and run,” Benn asks. Shanks was about to respond except there was a major event. One big enough to land them in the hospital and scar Shanks permanently, but that didn’t make sense to Shanks. Teach was gone that much Shanks was sure of. In fact afterwards Buggy barely left his side, but could it also be the reason Buggy ran? The more he thought about the more confused he became. It was like looking at a puzzle with major pieces missing.

“I have no idea,” Shanks admits, it tasted bitter on his tongue to do so. He needed to talk to Buggy about, but that warning of too soon echoed in the back of his head. It’s barely been two days since they met again. Buggy had avoided him for three years for a reason he didn’t want to tell Shanks about. Bringing it up now would only put Buggy on the defensive. Shanks is used to wearing Buggy down, this will be no different. Face hardening with his resolve he looks Benn in the eyes. “But I’m going to find out.” Seemingly satisfied with that Benn nods and claps his hand on Shanks’s shoulder once before leaving.

Heading to the closest store Shanks picks up dinner for himself and a set of sheets for his bed. It is only when Shanks is halfway back to the apartment when he realizes he forgot to get a pillow. _Shit!_ Sighing, he's too tired to go back and continues his way home. Taking his shoes off by the door Shanks spots something on the table walking over he realizes it’s a pillow reading the note Shanks chuckles.

_Don't you dare track mud in. Try not to bleed too much. (p.s. you get it for one night no more)_

-🌟

“You just can’t say what you really mean can you?” Shanks whispers to himself. Taking the pillow and note with him Shanks makes his bed. With that done he spends an hour finishing up some reading for class. Not sure when Buggy gets off Shanks decides to just head to bed. Going through his nightly routine he flops onto the bed before stretching out enjoying the luxury of not having his feet dangle off the end. Only slightly tired Shanks takes the time to fully think about something he hasn’t thought about until Benn brought it up that evening, Buggy leaving.

It was the week after Shanks got his last check-up, and it was a happy one. Buggy even let Shanks stay over for the whole week. Shanks remembers waking up in the middle of the night to Buggy sobbing. The way people do when they're really upset but don't want to wake anyone. Shanks half-asleep drew Buggy into a hug and couldn't remember much else besides telling Buggy everything would be fine and Buggy agreed with him. Shanks thought the look of absolute anguish turning into determination in Buggy's eyes was him agreeing, but he woke up the next morning to an empty bed and Roger telling him that Buggy already left for his trip. Shanks didn't even know Buggy planned to take a year off let alone travel around the globe.

And Shanks couldn't do anything about it, not that he knew what exactly he should have done, but he had already been accepted into GLU and was set to head to the training camp for the rugby team. He has always made friends easily, but try as he might, they weren't Buggy. Buggy sent something to Roger and the family every once in a while. In fact, it was the only reason Shanks knew he wasn't dead. He waited for a phone call or letter or even a postcard but nothing ever came. So Shanks threw himself into college life, school, and rugby. Kept himself as busy as possible, he even started going to parties just to keep his schedule full. But Shanks didn't feel full and any moments of satisfaction were abruptly halted when he turned to look for Buggy only to find someone with the wrong hair color or just no one there at all. Shanks just wanted his brother back.

And now three years later Buggy is back in his life and Shanks isn't going to let him go so easily this time. Determined to get their relationship back to where it was before whatever went wrong. The smell of Buggy wafting from the pillow eased him into sleep.

* * *

Buggy’s shift at work went smoothly. No accidents, everyone was focused and on point. Buggy always preferred the afternoon shows rather than the night performances. The shows were big and everyone was there to watch the performers. The night performances were basically extra, side pieces for people who were there to get drunk, dance, or find someone to go home with. Sure everyone would watch every now and then but it wasn’t why they were there. Which he guesses makes it the perfect place for fuck ups or if they want to try something new under similar pressure of performance. Less of a risk leaving someone disappointed if the trick didn’t go perfectly. But hey that was work at a nightclub. Changing into street clothes Cabaji and Mohji finished cleaning up to change too.

“How’s the roommate? Last time you mention she was moving out?” Cabaji asked.

“Are you going to need to look for a roommate again? That’s going to fucking suck.” Mohji comments.

“Yeah about that. She did move out but I already found a new roommate. So at least I don’t have to worry about going through that bullshit I did before finding Alvida.” Buggy comments casually hoping they won’t ask who the new roommate is.

“That was quick, you didn’t pick up anyone strange did you?” Cabaji asked. He has met some of the older roommates he didn’t want buggy to end up in another one of situations.

“No, We used to go to school together. He’s fine.” Buggy says brushing off their concern. Which if the look they shared with each other meant anything it meant they didn’t believe him. _Shit._

“You haven’t given us the best impression of your school years. Are you sure you want to room with him?” Mohji asks for them both. Buggy winces. He really hasn’t and its true _school_ wasn’t a good time for him, but outside of class he had Shanks and that’s all that mattered. Except when that time started getting shorter and shorter. He picked up even more extracurriculars outside of school to fill the empty spaces where Shanks used to be. Shanks made friends easily, Buggy _didn’t._ But his friends are both mother hens so if he wants them to not worry about him he’s going to have to be a little more honest with them then he has been in a while. They go to the GLU too so they should at least know who he is.

“It’s Shanks. We grew up together ok? Our dads are friends. If he gets weird, which I doubt he will. I’ll just tell Roger ok?” Their eyes nearly bulged out of their head at Shanks’s name and seemed to grow even bigger when Buggy revealed that they knew each other since childhood.

“Borrow Richie first. Then tell your dad.” Mohji said.

“But seriously, the _fu_ _ck_ Buggy you’ve known Shanks, _the_ Shanks since you were kids? Why the hell would you hide that?” Cabaji asks.

“I wasn’t hiding it,” Lie. He totally was. “It just didn’t seem important after all we kinda...drifted apart after high school.” More like Buggy _put_ distance between them. “You know how it is, we just found places in different worlds. I wasn’t going to get involved again with someone I hadn’t seen in years at that point. It would just be weird.” Buggy shrugs slinging his bag over his shoulder hoping that was enough to complace them. They stared at each other once more doing their silent communicating thing. _Shanks and I used to not even need to look at each other._ Ignoring the pain in his chest and the unnecessary thought, Buggy awaits his friend's verdict.

“Fine, we believe you. Anyone else at school you were friends with once upon a time that you want to tell us now that you’re living with Red-Hair _motherfucking_ Shanks.” Buggy looks away.

“You’ve got to be joking. Who?” They ask together.

“Marco Newgate.” Buggy mumbles. Cabaji rushes over to start shaking Buggy. Mohji just starts swearing.

“The _fuck Buggy._ You not only know the biggest sports star on campus. You also know the fucking heir to the Whitebeard Conglomerate????” Cabaji asks, completely bewildered.

“Yes? All of our dads are kinda friends. So Roger and Rayleigh sent us to the Moby summer camp when it was starting out.” Buggy explains. This is why he didn’t want to say anything. Shanks and Marco made something of themselves already. Buggy was just Buggy, no one particularly special.

“That’s it.” Mohji said, throwing up his arms. “At some point we’re going to hang out and you’re going to tell us about your childhood because that sound wild as fuck!” Mohiji said. Buggy sighs, they’ve been really good friends over the years he supposes he could do to open a little more. As long as he avoids the Teach thing he’ll be fine. Maybe. After all, good memories can hurt too.

“Fine. But I’m exhausted, can we go home now?” Buggy whines. He really is tired. It's been a long day.

“Yeah, yeah let’s go,” Cabaji says as Mohji slings his arm over Buggy. It felt different than when Shanks did it. _Of course it did idiot._ Rolling his eyes at his own stupidity Buggy shrugs off Mohji as they make their way back to their homes.

Buggy quietly opens his door. It’s late, or well, early as hell. Toeing off his shoes he makes his way towards the table and sees that his pillow is gone and Shanks’s door is closed. Sighing, he makes his way to his own room dropping his bag on top of his trunk. Getting changed and stops by the bathroom to wash his face to get rid of any leftover make up he might have missed and brush his teeth. Finally ready for bed he buries himself under the covers and reaches for his extra pillow, which isn’t there, because he let Shanks borrow it. Grumbling he just curls tighter into himself and lets exhaustion take over unaware that his breathing matches his new roommates. More in sync asleep than awake, after all when it is something that has become muscle memory the habit is almost impossible to break no matter how much the mind thought it wanted to


	3. Buggy and Shanks's Day Out (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shanks is all moved in time to get him some furniture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I turn Dock 1 into their version on Ikea? Yes, yes I did. Big thanks to Scarlet for always hyping me up to post. Anyway new chapter! Have fun!

Waking up to sunlight directly in his eyes reminded Shanks that he definitely needed to go shopping today. Unfortunately, the fire that took out the apartments was started in his building so while he still had some clothes back in his old room all of his furniture was gone. Most of it actually came with the apartments so he was looking forward to getting his own stuff this time. Dragging himself out of bed he makes his way to the bathroom before heading to the kitchen to start breakfast. When his phone rang. He picked up when he realized it was Rayleigh calling him.

“Hey Rayleigh, what’s up?” Shanks greets as he walks around the kitchen getting acquainted with the layout.

“Hey, Shanks. Sorry if I woke you up but I finally got an answer back from the real estate agent. So if you're still looking for a new place they have some options.” The sound of paper rustling accompanied the words. He must be in his office.

“That’s great but I already found something,” Shanks says taking note of the food in the fridge.

“Really where?” Rayleigh asks. The rustling stopped and Shanks could feel him gain Rayleigh’s full attention.

“Orange Town. I ran into Buggy yesterday and it turns out he was looking for a roommate too.” Shanks says.

“Buggy?” Rayleigh asks. The surprised tone unsurprising to Shanks, after all, it’s Rayleigh. He probably understands the situation between him and Buggy even less than Shanks did. Even Shakky and Rouge didn’t quite seem to understand what was going on or if they did they weren’t sharing.

“Yeah, Lucky huh. It only has a bed so I was going to look for a desk and a dresser today.” Shanks says sitting down at the table after feeling like he has a better grasp on where most things are.

“Very lucky. I hope you are not planning on picking anything up from the side of the street.” Rayleigh jokes.

“Hey, you can find some real gems there. After all, that’s where Roger found you.” Shanks snipes back.

“Rude, see if I pay for it then,” Rayleigh says.

“Wait. No. Oh, merciful one please let me spend your money.” Shanks deadpans.

“Brat.” Rayleigh grumbles.

“No but seriously I can make do with something from a second-hand store or something. Wait why don’t I just come over and pick up my desk?” Shanks asks. He didn’t take with him when moved out it should still be in decent condition.

“Ah… about that. Rouge took it for her work office.” Rayleigh admits sheepishly.

“What happened to Buggy’s?” Shanks asks last he heard Rouge was using Buggy’s old room as an office until the one in her flower shop was finished.

“Ace found the matches,” Rayleigh says with a weary chuckle.

“Dahahahaha.” A surprised laugh burst out of Shanks. “He’s like 6 and already committed his first act of arson,” Shanks says around his laughing, taking a moment to calm down as Rayleigh continued talking.

“Anyway, why don’t you go to Dock 1. Galley-La Company has some good stuff. This way you can get something that will last a lifetime and then send me the bill. Better than you getting something cheap and then having it break on you.”

“Really? I’ll take your offer then,” Shanks says. He was truly thankful that he was adopted by such a supportive family.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell Buggy I said hello and ask him if you two will be home together for the holidays this year. Having Buggy barely there was hard on Ace there last couple years. But if you two are living together now we don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Sure no problem.” Hanging up Shanks. Filing that last tidbit away. The more he finds out what Buggy has done to avoid him the more annoyed he gets. They really need to have a talk about this, but later when Buggy was comfortable with Shanks again and maybe a little drunk. Checking the clock as he starts breakfast. Buggy seemed to have all the basics. Though finding the waffle maker sealed the deal for breakfast. It was the slightly more decent hour of 10 am, but Shanks was still surprised when Buggy stumbled out of his room. Hair thrown into another hasty bun. He hadn’t seen Buggy let it loose yet and Shanks was starting to wonder just how long buggy’s hair really was.

“Morning Bugs. Sleep well?” A grunt was Buggy’s reply as he headed for the bathroom. Taking the opportunity to make use of the coffee pods Shanks found earlier he pops one into the keurig and lets it do its thing. Knowing that it would help Buggy wake up. Finishing up the waffles and Shanks goes about cutting up some banana and making some eggs to go with it. Placing the drinks down first he doubles back for the plates finding Buggy chugging the coffee.

“Easy there Bugs it’s not going to run away from you.” Shanks chuckles as he sets down the plate. Apparently, the food was enough of an offering to save Shanks from Buggy’s glare. Letting Buggy finish waking up at his own pace Shanks eats his own food. They had finished their food and Buggy was on his second cup when he finally decided he was awake enough for conversation.

“So what are the plans for the day, because I want my pillow back.” Buggy reminds Shanks between sips.

“Yeah, yeah.” waving Buggy off. “I figured I would go furniture shopping today. While I don’t mind waking early I would rather not do it to the sun directly in my eyes. So I was going to head to the Water 7 district after breakfast.” Shanks says.

“Water 7? Any particular shop in mind?” Buggy asks.

“Yeah. My original plan was to head over to the second-hand stores but I just got off the phone with Rayleigh and he offered to take care of it. He recommended heading over to Dock 1 and have a look around. Something about it being better to buy quality once than cheap multiple times, I guess.” Shanks says.

“Dock 1 huh.” Buggy considers leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. “Their stuff is great but the price definitely matches their quality, but if old man Silvers if footing the bill I don’t see why not.” Buggy says.

“Great. Let’s get dressed and we can go.” Shanks says brightly.

“We? What do you mean we?” Buggy asks, confused.

“Oh,” Shanks says sadly. “Did you have something else to do today?” Shanks asks double-checking the calendar he didn’t see anything on there before. Turning back to Buggy pout on his lips.

“Well no.” Buggy begrudgingly admits.

“Then come on. I don’t want to go by myself. I’ll get bored,” Shanks whined.

“What am I your personal circus? I’m not going to go with you just because you don’t want to be bored. Not to mention you’re shopping for _your_ furniture.” Buggy counters.

“It’s not like shopping for fun things or presents. Speaking of which Rayleigh wanted to know when we're coming home for the holidays. I bet you haven’t started on your Christmas shopping yet and you know how hard it is to get Rouge and Shakky something decent.” Shanks shoots back grabbing the plates to take to the sink.

“It’s fucking September!” Buggy says exasperated as he gets up and takes the plates from Shanks.

“You want to wait until even closer to the holidays? We can even leave Speed here and take the Sea Train around town. Galley-La Company is known for their speedy work and even has next day delivery. We'll pick some stuff out and make a day of it.” Shanks cajoles as he leans against the wall as Buggy loads the dishwasher.

“You’re buying lunch,” Buggy closed the dishwasher with a flick of hand before making his way to his room. With Buggy’s back to him, Shanks doesn’t hold back his smile. “And wipe that damn smirk off your face, moron.” Buggy demands before shutting his bedroom door with a snap. Shanks's smile just grows as he goes to his room to get dressed for their outing. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a hoodie over a black t-shirt. Finding it smaller than expected he double-checks which one he grabbed. It was red and black from the team. _Huh? Oh, it's from freshman year. Wait. Does this mean my usual one got burned?_ Checking the closet he doesn’t see any other hoodies.

“Damn it,” shrugging it off, he goes to wait for Buggy in the living room.

* * *

Buggy had woken to the sound of Shanks' laugh and with the smell of food. He decided it was worth dragging himself out of bed. He threw his hair up into a bun before making his way to the bathroom. Shanks said something but he found himself uncaring. His morning routine woke him up slightly but the cup of coffee on the table was definitely a must.

“Easy there Bugs it’s not going to run away from you,” Shanks says as Buggy downs his coffee. He was about to find some retort when he found food in front of him. _Food first. Shanks later._ Digging in they eat in silence. Shanks even makes him a second cup. Finding himself fully awake Buggy starts with the most important thing.

“So what are the plans for the day, because I want my pillow back.” Buggy inquiries.

“Yeah, yeah. I figured I would go furniture shopping today. While I don’t mind waking early I would rather not do it to the sun directly in my eyes. So I was going to head to the Water 7 district after breakfast.” Shanks says. As the main commercial area Water 7 is a good place to start.

“Water 7? Any particular shop in mind?” Buggy asks, hoping Shanks’s plan wasn’t to just wander around willy nilly hoping to stumble across something.

“Yeah. My original plan was to head over to the second-hand stores but I just got off the phone with Rayleigh and he offered to take care of it. He recommended heading over to Dock 1 and have a look around. Something about it being better to buy quality once than cheap multiple times, I guess.” Shanks says. Rayleigh called? That must be why he heard Shanks voice earlier.

“Dock 1 huh. Their stuff is great but the price definitely matches their quality, but if old man Silvers if footing the bill I don’t see why not.” Buggy says.

“Great. Let’s get dressed and we can go.” Shanks says a smile brightening.

“We? What do you mean we?” Buggy asks incredulously, he doesn't remember saying anything about going with Shanks.

“Oh did you have something else to do today?” Shanks asks, turning to look past Buggy at the calendar.

“Well no.” Buggy admits, ignoring the slight pout of Shanks’s mouth, but that wasn’t the point. Going furniture shopping with Shanks was setting off warning bells in his head.

“Then come on. I don’t want to go by myself. I’ll get bored,” Shanks whined.

“What am I your personal circus? I’m not going to go with you just because you don’t want to be bored. Not to mention you’re shopping for _your_ furniture.” Buggy counters. There was no need for Buggy to go too.

“It’s not like shopping for fun things or presents. Speaking of which Rayleigh wanted to know when we're coming home for the holiday. I bet you haven’t started on your Christmas shopping yet and you know how hard it is to get Rouge and Shakky something decent.” Shanks shoots back grabbing the plates to take to the sink.

“It’s fucking September!” Buggy says exasperated as he gets up and takes the plates from Shanks. Remembering the rules they just set up yesterday.

“You want to wait until even closer to the holidays?” Shanks asks, doubtful. “We can even leave Speed here and take the Sea Train around town. Galley-La Company is known for their speedy work and even has next day delivery. We'll pick some stuff out and make a day of it.” Shanks cajoles as he leans against the wall as Buggy loads the dishwasher. Internally sighing Buggy gives in once more to Shanks.

“You’re buying lunch,” Buggy states before closing the dishwasher and makes his way to his room. “And wipe that damn smirk off your face, moron” Buggy demands before shutting his bedroom door with a snap. Letting out a sigh he gets ready for a day of getting dragged around by Shanks. Pulling out his blue long sleeve sweater dress he puts on his white woollen knee-high socks. Grabbing his wallet and phone to put in his pockets taking his ankle boots with him to drop outside of the bathroom. Brushing his hair out and pulling into a loose bun, some wing eyeliner and a swipe of pale pink lipgloss and he deems himself suitable.

“Ok let’s go.” Buggy says zipping up his boots. “What?” Buggy asks at the stupid look on Shanks’s face.

“Nothing, you just look pretty,” Shanks says.

“Shut up.” Buggy says smacking the back of Shanks’s head on his way to the door. Letting Shanks lace up his boots before closing the door behind them and locking it.

* * *

The sea train was by far the easiest and fastest way to get around town. Well so long as you didn’t mind risking getting squished if you happened to get on at the wrong time. Luckily 11 am on a Sunday wasn’t too bad. There were even some seats left as they took the Puffing Tom line to get to Water 7. Getting off of the train they made their way to Dock 1. He forgot how massive the place was.

“Should we hold hands?” Shanks asks. If Buggy was drinking he would have done a spit take.

“The fuck Shanks? No, we are not holding hands.” Buggy rejects.

“But what if we get lost?” Shanks asks, attempting to hide his smile behind a pout.

“Then I find a new roommate.” Buggy says blandly.

“Mean,” Shanks pouts. Walking over to the map trying to figure out where they were and where they need to go.

“So desk or dresser first?” Buggy asks. Locating both bedroom and office furniture, which were on opposite sides of the store because of course, they were.

“I was thinking of a new bed.” Shanks wiggled his eyebrows.

“There is nothing wrong with your bed. If you don’t cut it out I will find the kitchen section just to lock you in a freezer.” Buggy threatens. Shanks throws his hands up in surrender.

“Dresser than. It looks like it's closer.” Shanks says. They make their way to the bedroom furniture section thankfully the beds are farther down and Buggy doesn’t have to even risk more ~~flirting~~ jokes. Standing back he lets Shanks lose to wander the showrooms. Thank god Shanks is so tall; it allows Buggy to keep track of him.

“How bout this one Bugs?” Shanks asks from about 4 showrooms from where they started.

“Not my furniture, not my problem.” Buggy shouts back.

“Come on Buggy just want your opinion. I don’t want Shakky to make fun of me for picking something ridiculous.” Shanks says. Sighing Buggy makes his way over.

“Which one?” Buggy asks there’s about three of them in the room.

“This one.” Shanks points at a white dresser with flowers painted all over. Buggy turns to look at Shanks.

“You’re not serious.” Buggy says completely deadpan.

“Nope,” Shanks says, unrepentant “but it got you over here,” Smiling as he leans towards Buggy’s face. Buggy placing his hand over Shanks’s face shoves him back and rolls his eyes. Lightly surprised Shanks didn’t try to lick it.

“I understand you have a thing about florals but really this is just tacky. Speaking of florals and tacky, what happened to all those ridiculous shorts you had?” Buggy asks, curious about the fashion disaster Shanks used to wear.

“I took them all when I moved out.” Shanks shoulders sinking.

“So they’re all gone?” Buggy asks with rising glee. The fire thankfully didn’t injure anyone but Buggy was happy to hear those crimes against fashion were gone.

“Yep, nothing but ash now.” Shanks pouts.

“May they rest in peace.” Buggy says mock solemnly. “But if I find any new ones; I’m burning them, so they may join their brethren.” Buggy says 100 percent serious.

“Hey! They never did anything to you. What do you have against them?” Shanks asks.

“They assaulted my sensibilities and seriously Shanks, I’ve seen Garp wear them.” Buggy says as he rests a hand on Shanks’s shoulder. Laughing as Shank’s face contorts in dawning horror.

“Shit you're right,” Shanks says shoulders falling even further.

“May I know what you two are looking for? I may be of some assistance?” an associate asks them.

“Ah yes. I’m looking for a new dresser and desk.” Shanks answers straightening up to turn to the salesperson. They spend about half an hour going through various dresses and end up finding one that looked like it was made out of dark reclaimed wood and had the silhouette of waves made of a gray wood. The sales associate walks them to the office section before handing them off to someone else, handing the order form to Buggy as Shanks talks to their new one. Buggy surreptitiously eyeing the flex of Shanks’s forearms as he animatedly talks to the sales associate revealed when he rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie. They seem to make some decent suggestions from the look on Shanks’s face. Imagining Shanks with the same look of concentration at his desk muscles flexing as he fidgets with his pencil before lacing his hands together and leaning back in the chair.

“Shit.” Buggy swears.

“What is it, Buggy?” Shanks asks, turning his attention from the desks.

“You need a desk chair too, but we can see if your old one is at the house.” Buggy waving Shanks off.

“Ah, I think Rouge took it,” Shanks says.

“Took it for what?” Buggy asked. She was using his old stuff, wasn’t she?

“Yeah. Apparently Ace discovered fire and Rayleigh gave Rouge my old stuff for her work office. That probably includes my chair.” Shaks says hand rubbing the back of his head.

“That little pyro.” Buggy says exasperatedly with slight pride in his voice.

“Hey he’s your brother.” Shanks points out. “I remember exactly what you were like whenever fireworks were around. Hell the last few years of high school you _made_ the fireworks.” Buggy shrugs. He can’t really say anything. He always loved science especially chemistry and learning what combined could make the flashiest reactions. Thankfully Professor Vegapunk didn’t seem to mind his endless questions and he even made a friend in that class. Banchina was an amazing lab partner; her major was even chemistry. He wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with it but whoever she decided to work for would be blessed by the heavens for it.

“Anyway did you decide yet?” Buggy asks getting back to the tasks at hand.

“Yeah, I think I did.” Pointing to a desk with a similar stain to his dresser he picked out earlier. “Think we should look around at the desk chairs here too?” Shanks asks.

“Might as well. No harm in it.” Buggy says. They got all day might as well get everything they can think of today. They still need to look at bedding, curtains, and clothes too if they all really burned in the fire. This time Shanks gets the order form and they wave off the sales associate. They got what they came for, now they’re just looking around.

Unfortunately despite the otherwise well-organized layout of the store, the office chairs were temporarily moved back towards the back of the bedroom section. Meaning they had to go past the beds to get to them. Much to Shanks joy and Buggy’s suffering. Shanks decides it perfectly fine to start trying out the beds. Most furniture stores like Dock 1 would usually have just the plain mattresses or, if decorated, are meant for display only. But Dock 1 isn’t like most stores so they actually make the beds and let people try them out.

They pass by the pastel princess and dinosaur twin beds with little fuss. It wasn’t until they got to the bigger beds that Shanks started messing around. Falling onto a double cream seashell designed bed made up with gold and cream bedding he scoots up until his head hits the pillows. Buggy snorts and nudges Shanks’s feet which were dangling off the bed.

“Too small for you goldilocks?” Buggy asks.

“Oh, just a little,” Shanks says getting up. “What’s the one we got at home? A queen? I wonder if a King would be better. Something I could fully spread out on would be nice.” Buggy flushes at the words it sounds like they're picking a bed out _together_. He doesn't know if it is just his normal overreaction to Shanks or if the flirting early primed him to hear Shanks words in a certain way.

“Come on Shanks quit playing.” Buggy says only for Shanks to ignore him. Getting up Shanks continues to meander around the section. Shanks lets out a burst of laughter before grabbing Buggy and heading further back towards the larger beds. Trying to see what Shanks was laughing at Buggy follows with little resistance.

“Holy shit it's huge,” Shanks said stopping before a truly massive bed. It looked like it could hold four people easily. The bed frame was a four-poster style that had the posts connected with arches that reminded Buggy of a castle or a cathedral. He slides his hands across the intricate detailing carved into the wood. From the posts hung black velvet curtains secured open, and was that a fucking chandelier? It was a small one but really? The bed itself had blood-red satin sheets and a multitude of pillows with a thick black and red comforter gold detailing. It screamed vampire aesthetic. Shanks, the absolute child, wasted no time jumping on to this one as well and fully sprawling out giddy at the revelation that he could fit so well on it. Sitting up on his forearms, hair ruffled from Shanks bouncing on the mattress “Buggy you got to try this one.”

“No, _I_ don’t. _You_ need to stop acting like a child. Come on before we draw the attention of someone who works here.” Buggy says, the image of Shanks lounging on the bed in tight leather pants and a billowing white shirt gaping open superimposing itself over the real Shanks. Grabbing Shanks hand fully intent on pulling him off the bed. He realizes his mistake a split second later when Shanks pulls back sending Buggy careening on top of Shanks’s chest. “Oof” If it was any other time, Buggy might have taken a moment to enjoy the feeling of Shanks’s chest against his own. But it _wasn’t_ any other time, and they were very much in public. So Buggy pushes up trying to get off of the bed, but seeming to read Buggy’s intention Shanks tightens his grip on Buggy. Struggling against Shank’s grip Buggy hands move from the bed to Shanks’s chest in an effort to gain more leverage. Shanks grabs Buggy’s wrists and rolls them over, pinning Buggy’s hands over his head and straddling his thighs. Buggy struggles for a second more before huffing in defeat. Glaring at Shanks who has the audacity to smirk at him.

“You’re such a killjoy Bugs. What happened to the boy who loved pulling pranks and being an instigating shit?” Shanks asks, leaning in and pressing more of his weight on Buggy’s wrists.

“He learned the meaning of TPO.” Buggy snarks. “Now if you’ve had your fun would you get off of me?” Given the widening of Shanks’s mouth into a truly wicked grin Shanks had not had his fun. Eyes widening in horror as Shanks shifts Buggy’s wrists to one hand and moves his now unoccupied hand to Buggy’s side. “Don’t you fucking dare.” Buggy says darkly.

“Oh, I dare,” Shanks says before wiggling and digging his fingers into Buggy’s side. Buggy flinches and immediately tries to buck Shanks off of him even as he laughs.

“Ahem.” A cough grabbing both of their attention and freezing them in place. “Can I help you with something?” Flushing red Buggy takes the opportunity of Shanks slack grip to free his hands and shove Shanks off of him. Stumbling back Shanks pivots to the sales associate. Buggy shoving his dress back down not realizing it had risen during the tickle fight.

“Yeah, what size is this bed?” Shanks asks, flashing a smile.

“This size is called an Alaska King; it is 108 inches in both length and width.” The associate responds humor obviously in their tone. Buggy hiding behind Shanks pinching him harshly in a silent ‘hurry up’.

“Thank you. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.” Shanks say amicably.

“Of course. Just try to contain yourselves. There _are_ children about.” They leave muttering about lovey-dovey couples. Buggy blushing even harder starts pounding his fists on Shanks back.

“Ow, ow. Shit. Buggy. Come on. Ow. Buggy! Okay! Okay. I’m sorry.” Shanks says hunching and trying to get away from Buggy’s fists. “I won’t do it again, please stop hitting me.” Glaring at Shanks but ceasing his attack, Buggy huffs and walks towards the office chairs back rigid and chin up. Coming upon the sales associate in this section.

“Hi, yes I’d like your most uncomfortable chair.” Buggy requests. The sales associate blinks at him.

“Buggy. I said I was sorry” Shanks says trudging behind.

“You’re gonna be,” Buggy mutters, refusing to look at Shanks. He couldn't, the weight of Shanks on top of him pinning to the bed will haunt him for the rest of the day and if Buggy was going to be tortured Shanks deserves to be punished too. Shooing Shanks off to go pick out a chair, they get their final order slip and place the order. When picking a delivery date they realized that Tuesday would work better for them as neither have previous obligations, unlike Monday which has on-campus classes and rugby practice. Setting up a delivery time they left Dock 1 in search of food.

* * *

Finding that they had to go all the way back to the bedroom section was a bummer, but hey at least he could check out the beds like he wanted to earlier. Passing by the kids’ beds Shanks found a bed the size he had before he hit his growth spurts. Falling onto a sea theme bed that reminds him of pearls he scoots up until his head hits the pillows.

“Too small for you goldilocks?” Buggy snorts and nudges Shanks’s feet which were dangling off the bed.

“Oh, just a little,” Shanks says getting up. “What’s the one we got at home? A queen? I wonder if a King would be better. Something I could fully spread out on would be nice.” The slight pink decorated Buggy’s cheeks was cute, but he couldn’t figure out what caused it. Maybe he was getting warm?

“Come on Shanks quit playing.” Buggy says. But Shanks was still having fun standing up, he continued to look around. Seeing something out of the corner of his Shanks turns to look at properly and lets out a burst of laughter. Grabbing Buggy’s hand he drags him towards the bed.

“Holy shit it's huge,” Shanks says and it was he didn’t even know they made beds that big. It looked like it could fit Shanks and his friends easily. Well, maybe. Lucky Roux was huge. It was a fancy princess royalty type bed. It honestly wouldn’t look out of place in Dracula’s castle. The chandelier was a nice touch. Getting, probably, a little too excited Shanks jumped on the bed bouncing a couple of times to get his full body on to the mattress. The fact that he could fully sprawl out left him slightly giddy.

“Buggy you got to try this one.” Shanks encourages, sitting up on his forearms.

“No, you need to stop acting like a child. Come on before we draw the attention of someone who works here.” Buggy says grabbing his hand Shanks pulls back, wanting Buggy to have a little fun.

“Oof,” Buggy grunts as he hits Shanks’s chest. Buggy tries to pull away not wanting him to escape Shanks puts his arms around Buggy and tightens his grip. Buggy immediately starts struggling against his grip, even moving his hands to Shanks’s chest in an effort to gain more leverage. Not having that, Shanks grabs Buggy’s hands and rolls them over, grabbing Buggy’s wrists and pinning time over his head. Using his weight to hold Buggy in place. Buggy gives it one last try until he accepts Shanks has him right where he wants him and isn’t going to let him up. Smug at his success he takes Buggy’s glare with grace.

“You’re such a killjoy Bugs. What happened to the boy who loved pulling pranks and being an instigating shit?” Shanks asks, leaning in and pressing more of his weight on Buggy’s wrists. Buggy used to be up for all sorts of pranks and shenanigans. Hell, when they were little they probably would have started a pillow fight or played hide and seek.

“He learned the meaning of TPO.” Buggy snarks. “Now if you’ve had your fun would you get off of me?” _Had his fun huh._ No, Shanks has not had his fun. Looking at Buggy below him. _Well, there’s only one thing to do._ He wants to laugh at the horror in Buggy’s eyes. He shifts so he can hold both of Buggy’s wrists in one hand. Moves his free hand to Buggy’s side. “Don’t you fucking dare.” Buggy says darkly. Giving Shanks a truly mean glare too bad that sounded very much like a challenge in Shanks’s ears.

“Oh, I dare,” Shanks says tickling Buggy. Buggy flinches and starts to laugh even as he thrashes around.

“Ahem.” A cough from behind causes Shanks to cease his attack. “Can I help you with something?” Watching Buggy’s face turn completely red has Shanks fully taking in their position. Buggy red, panting, and his dress has started crawling up his legs leaving even more of Buggy’s thigh in full view. Buggy takes the opportunity of Shanks distraction to free himself and shove Shanks off of him. Stumbling back Shanks pivots to the sales associate. Giving Buggy the chance to fix his outfit.

“Yeah, what size is this bed?” Shanks asks, flashing a smile. Hopping to distract them from Buggy and he was genuinely curious.

“This size is called an Alaska King; it is 108 inches in both length and width.” The associate responds humor obviously in their tone. A sharp pinch notifies that Buggy is presentable and would very much like to be done here. _Ow. That’s definitely going to bruise._

“Thank you. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.” Shanks says politely dismissing them.

“Of course. Just try to contain yourselves. There _are_ children about.” They leave muttering about lovey-dovey couples. As they walk away Buggy doesn’t hesitate to start hitting him.

“Ow, ow. Shit. Buggy. Come on. Ow. Buggy! Okay! Okay. I’m sorry.” Shanks says hunching and trying to get away from Buggy’s fists. “I won’t do it again, please stop hitting me.” Shanks pleads. Buggy did stop hitting but the glare he gave him was pretty cutting. _I fucked up._ Following after Buggy as he stomps over the chairs.

“Hi, yes I’d like your most uncomfortable chair.” Buggy requests.The sales associate blinking in response to Buggy’s request. Shanks winces.

“Buggy. I said I was sorry,” Shanks says coming up behind Buggy, trying to get his attention.

“You’re gonna be,” Buggy mutters, not looking as Shanks as he shoos him off to go pick out a chair. Finding one similar to the one he had before he takes the last order slip and they place the full order. Still unfamiliar with each other's schedule they figure out that Tuesday would work best. Setting up a delivery time they left Dock 1 in search of food.

They found a cafe and had ordered their food, but Buggy had yet to speak to him. Directing all of his comments to the worker. Even when they ordered food Buggy still avoided even looking at Shanks. The tickling was too much. He was just having so much fun hanging out with Buggy again he kind of forgot where they were.

“M’sorry Buggy,” Shanks says head down as he picks at his food. He really is. He just wanted to have some fun. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.” Buggy sighs.

“I understand that it’s been a while, but there are different boundaries now than when we were kids. Just...just don’t do that again. Okay?” Buggy says, laying his hand on top of Shanks’s, eyes pleading. Shanks turns his hand gripping Buggy back nodding his head. Giving each other small smiles they go back to eating not letting go of each other's hand taking strength from the contact.

“So now that we are done with my stuff what do you want to do?” Shanks asks.

"Shanks. You still don't have any pillows." Buggy reminds him.

"Ah right. I also wanted to get some curtains. Maybe we should do that last then? I don’t really like the idea of walking around with pillows." Shanks says.

“Hmm.” Buggy hums agreeing with Shanks. “ As for the rest of the day, good question. I can’t think of anything I particularly need but I think going with your suggestion of looking for presents for Shakky and Rouge is a good idea. Maybe something for Ace too.” Buggy muses finishing off his cake. Wiping his mouth for crumbs before pulling out his lipgloss and reapplying it.

“So just some window dressings and then window shopping?” Shanks asks as they get up tossing their trash as they leave. Still holding Buggy’s hand waiting for him to pull away and is pleasantly surprised when he doesn’t. They spend the rest of the day going shop to shop just looking around. Buggy seems to make note of things that _might_ work for gifts but don't feel _perfect._

"So do you want to eat here?" Shanks asks. There was just so much to do and look at in Water 7 Shanks wasn't really surprised that they spent the entire day looking around. Gently pulling Buggy closer to the storefronts so as to not block the busy sidewalk Shanks waits as Buggy deliberates.

"Honestly? I'm done for the day. I just want to go home and order pizza." Buggy says turning to look Shanks in the eye.

"Works for me. Let's go get the rest of my stuff and head home then Bugs" Shanks says slinging his arm over Buggy's shoulder. Buggy rolls his eyes but doesn't remove his arm. Shanks’s isn’t particularly picky about the small things so after a few more purposeful horrible choices Buggy ends up picking his stuff. Buggy grabs the bags but makes Shanks carry both pillows. Heading to the station, they are both reminded that it is around dinner time which means the evening rush. While completely overloaded during the week the Sunday isn't much better with people coming to and fro for dinner and other weekend evening activities. Buggy curses and Shanks is inclined to agree with him. They live about three stops away but it definitely won't be fun. Watching the sea train pull up they find the car crowded but not like sardine crowded. Finding a spot on the wall dropping the shopping behind Buggy, they start arguing pizza toppings.

"Shanks, no you heathen. We are not getting Hawaiian pizza. Seriously? What is wrong with just getting a supreme and a meat lovers pizza like we always do?" Buggy asks, face contorting in mild disgust.

"Because it's actually delicious and we're ordering two pizzas anyway we might as well just have our own pizzas," Shanks says. Buggy's pout telling him he won this time. Shifting with the train as it pulls into the next station their luck runs out and the influx of people has Shanks facing Buggy with his arms blocking other people from jostling them too much. Unfortunately, that precaution didn’t mean much when the door closed and someone ended up shoving Shanks directly into Buggy. Due to the bags and pillows, Buggy was left leaning backwards at an awkward angle with their legs entangled.

“Sorry Buggy,” Shanks says, readjusting his arms trying to brace himself in a way that gives Buggy even slightly more room.

“It’s fine” Buggy responds, breath puffing against Shanks’s neck.

Oh, that felt strange.

It was warm leaving his skin slightly cold after it passed. ”Actually, can you move your legs at all? Your thigh is kinda...” Buggy trails off. Looking down to see what might be the problem Shanks sees that his leg is snuggly in between Buggy’s thighs and is lifting the bottom of his dress up with only the fall of the fabric keeping Shanks from seeing his underwear.

“Oh right, let me just” Trying to move back to pull his leg out gets him shoved back harshly into Bugs driving his leg up even higher only Buggy clenching his legs tightly around Shanks’s thigh keeps him from possibly kneeing him in the groin and now has their faces next to each other. _Wow those are firm, I guess what they say about dancers' legs are true._ Shanks’s brows furrow at the thought not like the idea of someone saying those things about Buggy. They tended to steer towards explicit and Shanks didn’t like the idea of someone hitting on Buggy just because they couldn’t get their mind out of the gutter.

“Okay, no more moving. It has only gotten worse.” Buggy says a high pitched nervous laugh follows Buggy’s words.

“Yeah, good idea,” Shanks says focusing back on Buggy whispering into his ear the slight flinch draws his attention. “Sorry, are they sensitive?” Shanks asks. He didn’t know that then again he was never in a situation before where he could find such a thing out.

“Yes…” Buggy hissed. “Now stop talking.” Buggy bites out. Mining zipping his lip Shanks does his best to not move while they wait for their stop and they can get off the train.

“Next time, we take Speed,” Buggy declares as they make their way back to the apartment.

“Seconded,” Shanks says. Allowing Buggy to open the doors and taking his bags from Buggy before heading to his room to drop his bags. Throwing the pillows on the bed he starts putting up his curtains.

“Food should be here in a bit and yes I ordered your blasphemous pizza,” Buggy says phone still in hand as he leans against the door jam.

“Thanks, want to put on a movie?” Shanks asks.

“Sure any suggestion?”

“Rudolph?” Shanks suggests.

“Fuck you.” Buggy says before pivoting out of the room. “I’m picking the movie,” Buggy shouts from the living room. Shanks chuckles to himself. Sliding the pillowcases onto the pillows and laying out his blankets on top. Folding up the ones he used last night, Shanks shoves them back into the closet. Hearing the buzzer Shanks grabs his wallet and goes to get the pizza. Coming back he found Buggy changed into sweats and sweatshirt long hair hanging down over the back of the couch. Resisting the urge to touch it Shanks walks over and drops the pizzas onto the coffee table.

“So what _are_ we watching?”

“Treasure Planet” Buggy says.

“Yes!” Shanks says pulling his pizza onto his lap. It was a favorite of theirs when they were kids. They were so obsessed with anything pirate back then. They even made their own jolly rogers. “Wait, drinks?”

“I’ll get them. Do you want anything?” Buggy asks, getting up.

“Beer?” Shanks requests.

“Got it.” Buggy says muffled. Giving Shanks a beer opening his own before sitting back down and pressing play. _Maybe we should start our movie nights again?_ Shanks considers as they sink into the couch and let themselves get sucked into the movie and their food.


	4. Buggy and Shanks's Day Out (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of their day and Buggy's POV for the train ride home.

"So you want to eat here?" Shanks asks, pulling Buggy to the side of the street.

"Honestly? I'm done for the day I just want to go home and order pizza." Buggy says turning to look Shanks in the eye. He’s looking a little tired too.

"Works for me. Let's go get the rest of my stuff and head home then Bugs" Shanks says slinging his arm over Buggy's shoulder. Buggy rolls his eyes but doesn't remove his arm. Getting fed up with Shanks atrocious choices Buggy just picks out all of the beding and curtains holding back from throwing them at the red-head’s face. Grabbing the bags he makes Shanks carry the pillows. Heading to the station, they are both reminded that it is around dinner time which means the evening rush. While completely overloaded during the week the Sunday isn't much better with people coming to and fro for dinner and other weekend evening activities. _Oh this is going to fucking suck._ Finding a spot on the wall dropping the shopping behind Buggy, they start arguing about dinner.

"Shanks, no you heathen. We are not getting Hawaiian pizza. Seriously? What is wrong with just getting a supreme and a meat lovers pizza like we always do?" Buggy whined it was gross and weird. Seriously, why would anyone put fruit on a pizza?

"Because it's actually delicious and we're ordering two pizzas anyway we might as well just have our own pizzas," Shanks says. Buggy grimaces but can’t really dispute the logic. It's not like they share their pizzas. Crossing his arms over his chest he ignores the smile Shanks puts on when he realized Buggy doesn’t have a comeback. The first stop goes ok, but the second one sends Buggy to his doom. Shanks moved to stand in front of him putting his arms up around Buggy’s head. It’s probably to keep people away, but inner teenage Buggy is swooning at the unintended wall slam. Finding them crushed closer together. And as the door closes Buggy loses even more space hyper-aware of _exactly where_ Shanks’s _thigh_ is.

“Sorry Buggy,” Shanks says, readjusting his arms. Buggy wishes he would stop moving. He's really really close. _Oh, this is so much worse than the tickling._

“It’s fine” Buggy responds, lying through his teeth before he reconsiders. ”Actually, can you move your legs at all? Your thigh is kinda...” Buggy trails off. He watches as Shanks looks down taking in Buggy’s rucked up dress and his own thigh.

“Oh right, let me just,” Shanks says attempting to lean back to move his leg except several people ended up shoving back harshly. And Shanks ends up even closer and his thigh even higher, panicking Buggy clenches his legs tightly around Shanks’s thigh. _Oh wow. It’s so firm._ Even with how uncomfortable the position is, all he can focus on is Shanks. The shifting has moved their faces next to each other. He can feel the heat radiating off of Shanks.

“Okay, no more moving! It has only gotten worse.” Buggy says a high pitched nervous laugh following his words. He can’t risk anymore movement. Any more and he might do something drastic. ~~Like grinding down onto his thigh?~~ Oh, bad brain, _bad brain._

“Yeah, good idea,” Shanks says into Buggy’s ear, flinching at the caress of breath. Seeming to take notice Shanks apologizes. “Sorry, are they sensitive?” Shanks asks. _Fuck, did he really have to ask? Couldn’t he just ignore it?_ Buggy’s tension is getting higher. He really , _really cannot_ take anymore.

“Yes…” Buggy hissed. “Now stop talking.” Buggy bites out. Shanks risks moving his hand to mime zipping his lip closed. The small bit of childishness makes Buggy want to laugh but he is worried it would come out too close to his mental state which is somewhere between full-blown panic and thirsty as hell. Buggy really needs to ease the tension eventually but now that Shanks moved in that is going to be particularly difficult. Buggy is a very vocal person in almost every aspect of his life. He really doesn’t want to risk Shanks hearing Buggy come to his name. Shanks doesn’t move any more and they finally arrive at their stop. Buggy grabs the bags and nearly runs off of the train, but pretending like the train ride didn’t affect him was the better option to Buggy.

“Next time, we take Speed,” Buggy declares as he aggressively walks home, but he’s not running. And for Buggy that is a win. Though the chill he feels without Shank’s warmth pressed against him feels like a loss.

“Seconded,” Shanks says, following Buggy as he unlocks the doors. Shanks heads straight to his room and Buggy takes a second to breathe. Collecting himself he pulls out his phone and orders their food. Hanging up he heads to Shanks’s room to let him know.

“Food should be here in a bit and yes I ordered your blasphemous pizza,” Buggy says phone still in hand as he leans against the door jam. Watching as Shanks set up what he can.

“Thanks, want to put on a movie?” Shanks asks. It's a good idea to unwind after a day out.

“Sure any suggestion?” Buggy asks, not sure what to watch.

“Rudolph?” Shanks suggests.

“Fuck you.” Buggy says before pivoting out of the room. “I’m picking the movie,” Buggy shouts as he digs through the movies. Ever since they first saw that movie it was nothing but reindeer jokes around the holiday until Buggy finally snapped and gave Marco a black eye. After that, they had no issues. Hearing the buzzer Buggy hears Shanks leave to go get the pizza. Taking the opportunity Buggy pops in the movie and gets changed into his pajamas and brushes out his hair leaving it down. Accidentally pulling on it as he sits down he gathers it and lays it over the back of the couch out of his way. Coming back in Shanks walks over and drops the pizzas onto the coffee table.

“So what _are_ we watching?” Shanks asks, checking the pizzas and pulling his pizza onto his lap.

“Treasure Planet” Buggy says. It was their favorite when they were kids. They love all pirate movies really, but treasure planet was their favorite by far. They would go on ‘adventures’ and ‘treasure hunts’ around the dock when Rayleigh and Roger would take them to work. It was a fun time, it was a simple time. Even now it influenced Buggy’s life in a way only he knows.

“Yes! Wait, drinks?” Shanks asks looking around.

“I’ll get them. Do you want anything?” Buggy asks, walking past Shanks to get into the kitchen.

“Beer?” Shanks asks.

“Got it.” Pulling out two Buggy passes Shanks his as he moves back to take his seat by the wall. Grabbing his own pizza he digs in, letting the movie take his whole focus. Or he wished it would take his whole focus. He hoped with all the touching throughout the day it would dampen his awareness of Shanks but it seemed to only enhance it instead. The loveseat fit him and Alvida just fine but Shanks’s bulk took up much more room leaving their arms and legs brushing up against each other every now and then. It left Buggy wanting to just sink into Shanks’s side, but he resisted. Which was getting harder and harder to do. Finishing his pizza Buggy leaned forward to put the box on the table only to lean back and find Shanks mid-stretch, his arm falling onto the back of the couch. Looking at Shanks out of the corner of his eye he finds Shanks completely engrossed in the movie. Giving up he moves his hair over to the front of his left shoulder.

“You know that might be a good idea for Ace,” Shanks says.

“What? An amorphous alien blob?” Buggy asks, watching as Jim chases after Morph.

“No, a treasure map! You know like Shakky and Rouge made for us before.” Shanks says, eyes shining as he got more excited about it. "He's always been bummed that his birthday is so close to such big holidays. Why don't we set up a treasure hunt, we can get everyone in on it and make it really special."

"That's a really good idea. Keep it mostly in the house except for near the end we get him outside for a bit to set up all his presents and stuff as treasure trove" Buggy considered. It was a really good idea. They had a really fun time solving theirs' maybe Ace would like it too.

"We can bring it up with Rouge later. She'll have good ideas on how to set it up, but I think it would be fun if it was mostly from us." Shanks says, smiling at Buggy. Grinning wider when Buggy gave a small smile back. By then end of the movie Buggy was truly relaxed and unwilling to move.

“It’s only 8:30 want to watch another?” Shanks asks.

“Hmm? Sure why not. As long as it isn’t Rudolph I don’t really care.” Buggy says, eyes narrowing at Shanks back as he goes through the movie rack. Shifting side to side before squatting down Buggy’s eyes following the movement. Exclaiming in triumph Shanks stands back up, Buggy’s eye still goes to Shanks's ass, shifting them away as he turns around and holds up a movie for Buggy’s inspection.

“Seriously? Titanic?” Buggy forgot he even owned that. Or maybe it was Alvida’s? Nah, she actually preferred suspense and horror types.

“It’s not Rudolph,” Shanks says, arching an eyebrow at him. "What? You were staring."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you wer- Really? Buggy? Just say what's on your mind. I doubt it's that big of a deal." Shanks sighs. Buggy thought telling your ~~crush~~ roommate that their ass looked amazing in those jeans was a _big deal._

“I was just wondering if you wanted to get dressed for bed. Jeans aren't known for their comfort." Buggy says instead.

"See that wasn't so hard and here I was thinking you were going to compliment my ass." Buggy holds back a choke. "But yeah I probably should, so a bathroom break then the movie?" Shanks asks.

"Yeah, that’s fine. And really? Your ego has gotten quite big. Why would _I_ be looking at _your_ ass?" Buggy says, getting up to head to the bathroom.

"Fair enough " Shanks shrugs, "after all you've always had the better ass between us," Shanks says eyes drifting down pointedly to Buggy's ass before giving Buggy a wink as he slips into his room to change. Shanks's parting shot leaves a flushing Buggy to trip the rest of the way into the bathroom. _That was ridiculous. He doesn't mean it like that so get your head out of the clouds. Or would it be the gutter?_ Splashing cold water into his face to calm himself down Buggy groans into his hand. This day had been absolute hell for him. The 'Alaska King incident' was bad enough then there was the 'train incident'. Now. Now, Shanks was complimenting his _ass? He seemed sincere about it too. Not the point!_ He reminds himself. Maybe he should just tell Shanks he was tired and go to bed? It would be the smart thing to do.

"Buggy you coming? The movie is ready." Shanks calls from the living room. _Shit._ He could never make the 'smart' decision when Shanks was around. Drying off his face he heads back to the couch.

"Yeah, yeah. Just press play already.” Buggy says waving a hand as he sits down. Shifting to pull his legs up onto the couch knees pointing toward Shanks as the movie starts. Shanks plops his arm back onto the back of the couch. Side eyeing Shanks he waits. When he doesn't move his arm Buggy reluctantly relaxes. _He didn't do shit the first time. What made you think he would do it now? I’m just overthinking this. Again._ Rolling his eyes at himself he attempts to engross himself in the movie. Buggy barely notices his eyes getting heavier and heavier until he fully succumbs to sleep head falling onto Shanks's shoulder in the process.

* * *

Shanks shifted his head at the sudden weight now pressed against him. Seeing Buggy’s head pressed against his shoulder a soft chuckle shakes him causing Buggy to slump onto Shanks’s lap hair falling across both of them. _Wow. He is out._

“You could have told me you were tired, you know,” Shanks whispers as he reaches for the mostly blue blanket across the back of the couch. Laying it across Buggy he can finally see the pattern, it’s an island surrounded by the ocean with sea kings peeking out from the waves. The island has a dotted black line travelling across the island, a red x deep within a dark green area. He actually recognizes it. They used to use it for their blanket forts at their sleepovers. He always wondered where it went, he searched all over both houses for it.

“You were always such a blanket hog.” Buggy grunts in response as if to disagree with Shanks. “Yes, you were,” Shanks says, continuing the one-sided argument. Lifting his hand from the back of the couch he uses it to move Buggy’s hair out of his face. Well that was what he intended to do. Just that. Move Buggy’s hair out of his face and go back to watching the movie, but once it was in his hand he couldn’t bring himself to let it go.

It slips through his fingers like silk. Going back to the top of Buggy’s head Shanks rest his hand for a moment before lightly scratching Buggy’s scalp; fingers entangling in the long blue strands. Combing through Buggy’s hair his pinky gets caught on a snag. Carefully removing his hand he works on delicately untangling the knot. Like Buggy taught him to do. Going through the rest of Buggy’s hair Shanks finds the knots one by one and untangles them until he can smoothly run all of his fingers through without running into any snags.

Buggy had always been fussy about his hair and Shanks found out in the worst possible way. Separating a small section of hair Shanks gently starts braiding thinking about that horrible prank gone wrong. It was back when they first met they hadn’t known each other for long but it doesn't take much to start a prank war. It was pretty evenly matched between the two with Roger and Rayleigh getting caught in the crosshairs every once in a while. Shanks got it in his head to drop a bunch of paint onto Buggy. They were always getting each other dirty. Dropping and even throwing, all sorts of things onto each other so Shanks didn’t see anything wrong with it. Except Shanks never noticed that it was Buggy's ever-present beanie that took the brunt of Shanks's pranks, and never actually got his hair covered in gunk before. Unfortunately, like most things, Buggy's luck ran out.

_The paint hit and Shanks laughed waiting for the usually angry screeching to come. Except it didn’t come. For a second he thought he got Rayleigh again and Shanks's laughter died out. Fear taking over for a split second._

_“Uh, Buggy?” Peeking his head out to look, it was Buggy absolutely dripping in black paint. His shoulders were shaking so hard Shanks thought he was beyond pissed until he flinched away from Shanks. Buggy never turned his back on Shanks in fact when he got mad he was right in Shanks’s face before launching himself at Shanks to start to wrestle getting both of them covered in whatever was on him at the time. The choked back sob made Shanks freeze. Reaching out to try to turn Buggy around the comparatively light slap Buggy gave his hand hurt more than anything else. As Buggy ran back to his house Shanks’s feet felt like they were chained to the ground and found himself unable to give chase. That was how Roger found him coming home from the dock._

_“What are you doing out here kiddo?” Roger asked kneeling down to look Shanks in the eye. Unable to hold his gaze Shanks turned his gaze to the ground._

_“I think I messed up real bad,” Shanks mumbled left hand crossing his body to hold his right arm._

_“Why don’t you tell me what happened.” Roger cajoled. “Maybe I can help you fix it.” So Shanks told him what happened._

_“But we are always getting each other dirty. I don’t understand why it made him cry this time.” Shanks face scrunching in confusion even if the guilt didn’t leave his eyes._

_“Ah. Right. Let me ask you a question.” Roger paused making sure he had Shanks’s full attention. “When the paint dropped on him was he wearing his hat?” Shanks took a second to think about it and gave a tiny shake of his head. Now that he thinks about it he’s never seen Buggy without his hat in fact he’s not entirely sure what color Buggy’s hair is._

_“That’s what I thought. Before I took Buggy in he had really short hair and since then he’s been growing out. For him, it's something very important to him.” Roger explains._

_“Like your hat?” Shanks asks, eyes flicking at the hat on Roger’s head. He knew how important that old straw hat was to Roger; it's been with him since before he met Rayleigh._

_“Exactly like my hat,” Roger says. The guilt tripled._

_“How do I fix it?” Shanks asks, straightening his spine and finally looking Roger in the eye. Letting out a loud wahahaha. Roger stares at Shanks right back._

_“That’s a good look in your eye. I think an apology is a good start, but remember this the best apology you can give is changed behavior. So if you know you did something wrong?”_

_“Don’t do it again,” Shanks says. “Do you know something that gets paint out of hair real good?” Shanks asks. If a verbal apology is a start and the best apology is changed behaviour then coming up with something to fix any physical damages would probably be a good thing too. Roger raised an eyebrow._

_“You know I believe I do.” Standing up Roger placing the hat on Shanks head they head to the garage. Roger grabbing a bottle from a high shelf. While the soap isn't the best for hair it isn’t damaging and can get all sorts of gunk out. “Here, it’ll be better than the normal stuff he’s got in the bathroom,” tossing it to Shanks. Who gives a quick thanks as he races into the house. Slamming the door behind him. Racing up the stairs he pauses at the bathroom door. It wasn’t shut all the way. He can see Buggy scrubbing at his hair, still black, and the paint just starting to dry on his shirt which has been haphazardly thrown on the floor. Tears streaming down his face. Shanks considers knocking and leaving the bottle, but he fucked up. He has to man up and own up to it. Knocking on the door and poking his head in._

_“Uh Buggy?” Buggy’s head snapping up wiping away the tears smudging the paint on his face. He once again turns away from Shanks. Shanks’s stomach twists again in response._

_“What do you want? You going to laugh at me again?” Buggy bites out sneering over his shoulder. Ouch. Who knew words could hurt more than a fist. And what did he mean "at me again' sure Shanks laughed when his pranks worked but Buggy knew it wasn't directly at him, right? Maybe I have more to make up for than the paint. Putting that thought away for later he carefully stepped into the bathroom afraid to get closer only to get slapped away again._

_“Uh no. I came to apologize and give you this.” Shanks said, holding out the bottle._

_“What is it?” Buggy asks suspiciously, glaring at the bottle like it would bite him._

_“It’s , uh, soap or uh shampoo. I think? Roger said it would help to get the paint out of your hair.” Shanks says still unsure. He’s not used to this kind of thing so he just keeps holding it out toward Buggy as far as his arm could reach. Buggy glare intensifies but he slowly stands up to quickly snatch the bottle from Shanks’s hand. Inspecting it like Rayleigh would do to some crates. Squirting some out Buggy’s nose scrunches at the smell. Taking a small chunk of hair he gently rubs it in finding that it does remove the paint easier. Buggy tears seem to be stopping as relief takes over his face. Shifting from one foot to the other Shanks takes a risk._

_“Can I help? I mean this was my fault for going too far. So I should be the one to fix it. I mean. If it's okay with you I would like to help. You don't have to. Obviously. It's just.. I um..” Shanks blabs. Buggy’s glare snaps back to Shanks from his hair. Twisting to sit on the edge of the tub staring at Shanks making Shanks twitch. Going back and forth from Shanks’s face to above his head? Oh right the hat. Seeming to come to a decision he holds the bottle back towards Shanks._

_“Don’t fuck up.” Jolting at the permission Shanks takes the bottle and gets in the tub so Buggy can lean back. Putting some in his own hand he gets why Buggy scrunched his nose the smell was strong. He set the bottle down and did his best to imitate the motions Rayleigh did when Shanks moved in and still needed help washing. Working from the roots to the ends. It was longer than Shanks reaching Buggy’s shoulder while his own only reached his ears._

_"I um. I know this doesn't excuse anything, but I just wanted to ask something. What did you mean by again?"_

_"You're always laughing at me. At my nose." Buggy says arms held tight against his body, shoulders rising up towards his ears._

_"I've never laughed at your nose." Shanks's face twists in confusion. Sure he laughed whenever his pranked worked but so did Buggy. Except... maybe Buggy hasn't. He knows he laughed before, except that was when Roger accidentally set off one of Shanks's pranks. Otherwise, he can't remember hearing Buggy laugh; a smirk of triumph for sure but Buggy's laugh was a rare thing._ He should laugh more.

_"Yes you do you're always pointing at it and laughing." Buggy growls trying to pull away and face Shanks. Using his position he keeps Buggy from moving._

_"Hey, careful. And yes, I did laugh and point but you were also usually covered in the aftermath of a prank. It was…" Shanks pauses trying to word it right. "it was more of a ', yeah it worked' laugh. I mean ever since we started I really had to think to keep up with you. In the beginning and even now you still, disarm or avoid a lot of them so when one works I get excited. I mean maybe, in the beginning, it was like that but we didn't really know each other and your pranks are always more intricate than mine. Like the one that had Roger literally rolling on the floor because Rayleigh ended up with neon green hair upside down in his underwear. Seriously you gotta tell me how you did that!"_

_"You have to keep up with **me?** And you weren't making fun of my nose?" Buggy asks quietly. Shanks frowns at Buggy_ Did he not know how cool he was?

_“No, I honestly wasn't laughing at your nose. I swear on Roger's hat I wasn't." Shanks says leaning his head down to drop said hat in Buggy’s lap. Buggy seemed to relax at those words._

_"Oh." Buggy said softly, hands falling on top of Roger’s hat twisting his fingers together._

_"I think I should rinse now?” Shanks says. Buggy motions to the showerhead. Turning it on Shanks makes sure it's warm. “Ok close your eyes.” As Buggy does so Shanks realizes how much Buggy is trusting him, with all of their fighting and pranks he never thought Buggy would trust him enough to close his eyes as Shanks holds a water dispenser in his hand. Even if they were having, what did Rayleigh call them again? Heart to hearts? Emboldened by the thought he carefully leans Buggy back letting Buggy’s head rest on his knee before bringing the showerhead up to wash out the shampoo. Always checking to make sure the water wasn’t going into Buggy’s eyes. A slog of black water made its way down the drain and was now more of a grey in buggy’s hair._

_“I think we need to use more.” Buggy just hums. Repeating the process Shanks is finally seeing what he thinks is Buggy’s real hair color. Doing it once more seems to do the trick. With the last of the paint out, Buggy’s hair is a very nice dark blue it kinda reminded Shanks of sapphires. “Um okay, I think that's it.” Blinking open his eyes, Buggy pulls some forward to inspect. Seemingly satisfied he reaches for another bottle and hands it to Shanks._

_“Now conditioner.” Blinking at the bottle as Buggy turns back around. Mouthing a silent okay to himself finding the smell much more pleasant. Shanks puts some on his hands and uses the same motions as the one he used for the shampoo._

_“Not like that. You have to comb your fingers through like a hairbrush." Doing as demanded. Thinking he gets it he runs his fingers through only to snag a knot and yank Buggy’s head._

_“Ow tomato-head. Haven’t you ever conditioned your hair before?” Buggy hisses._

_“Uh no? I only have shampoo.” Shanks admits, is that weird?_

_“No wonder your hair is like that. Here gimme your hands." Buggy sighs “You have to be gentle.” Having Shanks sit down next to him as he overlays his hands on top of Shanks's. Showing him how to untangle the knots. Pulling at Buggy's hair a couple more times Shanks finally gets it down and proceeds to get through the rest of Buggy’s hair._

_“Now what?”_

_“Now we wait. It has to sit.” Buggy’s says like Shanks is stupid._

_“Why? What does that do?” Shanks asks. Buggy stays quiet. “You don’t know!”_

_“I do too. I just don’t feel like explaining everything.” Buggy says crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out at Shanks._

_“Dahahaha. You don’t!” Shanks lets out a laugh even as Buggy shoves him back into the tub slipping with him landing them both in the tub now completely wet. Making Shanks laugh even harder._

Coming out of the memory Shanks finds he’s braided a lot of little braids into Buggy’s hair. Oops. Untangling Buggy’s hair he's reminded of something else. This time he doesn’t let himself sink back into the memory but he does allow himself a chuckle at his reaction to seeing Buggy's hair the next day sans paint, beanie or water. It was such a lighter blue than it was when wet. It reminded Shanks of the ocean on a calm and sunny day. He wanted to touch it and run his fingers through Buggy’s hair again, but knowing just how important it was to Buggy he refrained.

Over the years as they became closer Buggy would let Shanks touch Buggy’s hair whenever he wanted as long as they were alone. As it got longer Shanks learned more complicated styles. _I wonder if he’ll let me play with it again when he’s awake?_ Hair smooth once more carefully pulls Buggy fully into his arms before standing, careful not to wake him. Stilling when Buggy shifts. When he isn't treated to Buggy shrieking at him he relaxes and takes him to his room. Moving Buggy to one arm he quickly pulls back the blankets and tucks Buggy into bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed he twirls a section around his finger. _You know I just realized I never actually apologized for the paint incident._ Pulling the hair towards his mouth, Shanks whispers a long overdue apology, his lips gliding across the strands before he finally lets go.

“Sleep well and don’t let the Bed-Buggys bite,” Shanks says quietly from the door jam before shutting it to head to his own bedroom. Completing his nightly routine he slides into bed. Falling asleep with a small smile on his face. _Buggy sure is cute._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was real cute. Next chapter is uhhhh more emotional. Might be posted a little later than the other chapters I want to get it right. So see you next posting!


	5. Angst? Angst D:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha You know that confrontation that's been building up between Shanks and Buggy? Whelp here it is and an extra one just for spice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a Whopping 10k and I have been told to warn you that you will probably need tissues for this chapters so have fun.

It has only been about two weeks since he started living with Buggy but Shanks found it amazing how easy it was to live with Buggy. They still argued over the smallest thing, like Buggy said they would, but they were more like verbal sparring sessions than actual arguments. It felt nice to fall back into that rhythm again. He forgot what it was like to be with someone who knew him so well. Benn would argue with him sometimes but it wasn't with the same 'need to be right' fervor that Buggy and Shanks were. And if he found it too stupid he wouldn’t even say anything he would just roll his eyes, which is no fun at all. Turning off the water, Shanks steps out of the shower reaching for his towel, which isn’t there.

“Shit.” Shrugging it off Shanks leaves the bathroom to pull a towel out of a closet, but before he could even open the door there was a screech to his left.

"What the fuck are you doing!"

"Getting a towel?" Shanks answers gesturing to the door in front of him.

"Why didn't you bring one with you?!!"

"I forgot." Turning towards Buggy ‘cause apparently, they are going to talk about this.

"Obviously. And you just decided walking around the apartment naked was a good idea?" Buggy says eyes solidly on the ceiling.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice." What was he supposed to do? Conjure one?

"For fucks sake Shanks. You could have asked me to get you one! And you’re dripping all over the floor."

"Ohhh, right.” Ok, Buggy has a point with that. “Sorry, most of my other roommates didn't care. And besides, we grew up together it's nothing you haven't seen before." And Buggy is _still_ not looking at him. _Weird he usually made more eye contact when upset with me._ Looking down, besides the nudity and water, he didn’t really see anything too out of place. Looking back to Buggy. _Uh oh, Buggy’s eye is twitching._

“That is so _not_ the point of this conversation.” Holding up a hand to forestall anything Shanks can say. “Which we can continue after you are _dressed!”_ Pointing past him at Shanks’s bedroom door.

“Okay, okay” Putting his hand up he concedes, grabs a towel and goes to his room. Shanks really didn’t understand what the issue was. They’ve seen each other in all states of dress and it never bugged Buggy before. Well, Buggy said they could continue the conversation after he’s dressed so better get to that. Drying off he pulls on some clothes before heading to the kitchen.

“Okay, I’m dressed,” Shanks says from the doorway causing Buggy to jump almost knocking over something. Shanks lunged for the cup, catching it just in time. “Woah, got it.” Setting it down on the counter; Buggy pushing the cup further towards the wall. “Soooo…” Shanks says leaning back against the counter Buggy said they could continue so they are going to continue. Maybe they can even discuss other things they need to talk about? Crossing his arms over his chest to hide the nervous shaking of his hands at the thought as he waits.

“Can you _please_ refrain from walking around the apartment naked?” Buggy pleaded. It really bugged him, huh?

“Sure.” Shanks agrees it obviously made Buggy uncomfortable, so he’s not going to keep doing it even though he doesn’t understand why it's weird now. “But I do have a question if you wouldn’t mind answering it?”

“Sure.” Buggy says, side-eyeing Shanks as he begins to knead the dough.

“What are you making? And can I have some when you're done?” Shanks asks. Resisting the temptation to hit his head. _Since when was I such a coward? ~~Since you learned what it was like to lose him.~~_

“It’s a sweetbread from Dressrosa.” Right, Dressrosa was one of the places he travelled to. Where else did he go again? Ace got a really cute toy of Kung-Fu Dugongs from Alabasta. Roger got seashells from Skypia. _I think they are called dials there?_ Shakky got some books from Ohara. Rouge got a hand-carved hibiscus pendant necklace from Elbaf. Rayleigh got a miniature Poneglyph from Wano. And Shanks. And Shanks is getting Dressrosa sweetbread made by Buggy himself.

“Dressrosa huh? How’d you learn?” Shanks isn’t sure what that flinch is about. Does Buggy not want to talk about where he was? Was it bad or is it because Shanks is the one that’s asking? This is going to drive him mad. They really need to talk about this or Shanks is going to go insane.

“There was this nice lady and her husband, Scarlett and Kyros, who let me stay with them. I didn’t want to feel useless so I asked to help with food. She was really patient and let me write down the recipes I learned. This one was one of my favorites so I actually ended up memorizing the recipe. We don’t actually have all the correct ingredients so I'm substituting a few things with what we do have.” Gesturing to the chocolate chips.

“So it's good?” Shanks asks pushing off of the dishwasher to head over to the table giving Buggy some breathing room.

“It won’t be as good as Scarlett’s but I think I do fairly well.” Buggy says, pulling out a clean bowl.

“So when’s it going to be done?” Shanks asks. Resting his chin on his hand following Buggy with his eyes.

“Not for a few hours. It still has to rise for a bit before I even bake it.” Buggy shrugs, resting his forearms on the table after he sits across from Shanks. He’s working up his courage to ask Buggy about the separation, but he doesn’t get the chance to.

“But you didn’t want to ask about that, did you?” Shanks let out a soft chuckle. They could read each other like a book. At least once upon a time they could. Now, sometimes it can feel like words have been smudged or some of the pages have been ripped out. Buggy being able to see that Shanks copped out before goes to show that their bond is still there, and he really needs to ask. If only for his own selfish reasons.

“You’re right it wasn’t what I wanted to ask. Wh…” How is he supposed to phrase this. _Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you tell me you were going? Is there more you didn’t tell me? Were you suffering and I didn’t notice? Fuck I should have thought this through._ Licking his lips Shanks tries again. “Did _I_ do something wrong?” Shanks asks. That he might have been the one to drive his best friend away, has been his biggest worry. He can’t think of anything else that could have done it, so it stands that the reason Buggy avoided him for over 3 years has to be something he did right? He couldn’t look Buggy in the eye. If he knows what he did wrong he can apologize and make up for it. He just needs to _know._

“What! No!” Buggy nearly shouts. “Shanks,” his name is said so softly, so pained; it hurt Shanks too. “You have done nothing wrong. I..I just. I just. Look it was a me thing ok? It was something...something I did for me and I felt like if I told you I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. I know that was probably selfish, but I jus-” The scrape of the chair has Shanks fearing that Buggy might be leaving. Snapping his head up he stays locked on Buggy as he grabs the chair closer to Shanks and moves it so that when Buggy sits their knees touch. Moving carefully like Buggy is afraid he would startle Shanks he grabs Shanks’s hand and gently rests his other hand on Shanks cheek, a silent request. He sinks his head into Buggy’s hand even as he realizes this is the second touch Buggy has initiated since they met again.

“I- I know that things have probably been confusing. I know that I didn’t handle things in the best way. If I could change it I would. It's just I couldn’t think of another way to handle… to handle.” When Buggy pauses Shanks grips his hand tighter. Taking a deep but shaky breath Buggy continues staring into Shanks. “I couldn’t think of any other way to handle something that was my own responsibility. So I need you to understand something. Okay? Can you do that for me?” Shanks nods his head. Whatever Buggy wants. Buggy pulls Shanks hand up to his chest and moves the one on Shanks’s cheek to the back of his neck pulling Shanks forward so their foreheads touch. For Buggy to be the one to have them so close to each other makes Shanks’s heart ache for something. He wants to close his eyes to savor the moment, but Shanks steadily holds Buggy’s gaze instead. While the willingness to be in Shanks’s space eased a weight off of Shanks’s chest that he didn’t even know was there, Buggy deserved his full attention and not only that. Buggy had asked for it.

“Why I left is something I’m not ready to talk about and I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but understand this. Nothing _I_ did was _your fault._ ” Buggy says, grip tightening on Shanks, shaking him slightly to emphasize his point. “So don’t go thinking otherwise ok? You are the last person who should be blamed for my actions.”

“But-” Shanks tries to protest.

“No. No Shanks. No buts.” Buggy says bringing himself even closer as their noses touch. Buggy shutting down any of Shanks’s protests before he could voice them. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Shanks sighing in defeat. Even _if_ Shanks could fully accept that it wasn’t his own fault, Buggy’s words mean that there was a reason for it. One he felt he couldn’t tell Shanks and that hurt too. Was he so unreliable that Buggy felt like he couldn’t help Buggy? Even as just a listening ear or shoulder to lean on? Was he, despite everything, not the friend Buggy needed him to be? Shanks wanted to whimper at the pain that thought caused. Shanks wanted to end the conversation there, maybe call off the poker, but he still had a question he _needed_ to ask. Switching the holds he pulls Buggy’s hands to his own chest gripping Buggy wrists, licking his lips he braces himself to ask the question; one he knows will bring back horrible memories. For both of them.

“Was... was it the Teach thing? Cause you know Roger and Rayleigh took care of him and he won’t ever hurt you again. You know that right. No one is going to hurt you like that _ever again._ ” Shanks declares unaware of just how tight he’s holding Buggy and his legs hooking on the chair to bring Buggy even closer to Shanks.

“I want to say no, I really, really do. But that...that _incident_ ” the venom in that word is something Shanks completely understands. “It made me realize something I had been avoiding and.” Buggy grips Shanks’s shirt with nearly the same Shanks is gripping him before letting go to slide his head down to rest on Shanks’s shoulder. “And I just realized I needed some space. That’s why I left. It was only supposed to be for a year. The other two. The other two were just my cowardice.” The last sentence was almost too quiet for Shanks to hear. Letting go of Buggy’s wrists he watches as the blood comes rushing back into them. He was hurting Buggy and Buggy let him. Shanks does let out a whimper this time as he pulls Buggy him into a much more gentle hug.

“I know I asked, but I’m not sure if I really care about the answers. I am just happy you're home.” Shanks says as he buries his face into Buggy’s hair, “and you know if you do need to talk about it, you can tell me anything right?” Buggy just gives him this sad look. Pulling back, Shanks resists the urge to grip him again, to not let him go until he agrees, but the red of Buggy’s wrists makes him hesitate; allowing Buggy to pull out of Shanks’s grasp.

“We should probably get everything ready, your friends will be here soon.” Buggy says, the feeling of a door being closed leaves Shanks suppressing a shiver. They were getting closer again, weren't they? Buggy said it's not his fault but he can’t shake the feeling he was an important factor in Buggy’s decision to leave. Buggy withdraws from Shanks presence completely putting the bread in the oven before heading to his room.

“Right,” Shanks says softly to the now empty kitchen. Getting up Shanks and goes through his pre-poker night mental checklist setting everything up on autopilot. The small tasks unable to distract him from the swirl of emotion in his chest.

* * *

Overall Buggy found it easy to live with Shanks, you know until he was forcefully reminded he was living with his crush and as such could not live with Shanks and not be tortured. All the little incidents were piling up. It was also how Buggy learned he wasn’t the only one to permanently decorate their body during the three-year gap in the most unfortunate way possible.

Buggy was in the living room when he heard the bathroom door open. He was going to ask Shanks something but it completely slipped his mind when he realized that Shanks had just walked out of the bathroom completely naked and still soaked from the shower. He should have kept quiet just let Shanks get to his room so could put on some clothes. And afterwards Buggy should have calmly explained that Shanks shouldn't do that. However, that was not what Buggy did, no, he did something much worse.

"What the fuck are you doing!" He screeched at Shanks like he was middle school again. _Oh no_ …. Buggy sends his eyes flying towards the ceiling. He's not going to look. He's not.

"Getting a towel?" Shanks answers like it should be obvious.

"Why didn't you bring one with you?!!" He wants to look, he really does, but he won't.

"I forgot." He can just see Shanks turning towards him. He forgot? He _forgot?_ He is being subjected to this because of a mental slip?

"Obviously. And you just decided walking around the apartment naked was a good idea?" That's good; go for exasperated, not whiny.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice" No choice!??

"For fucks sake Shanks. You could have asked me to get you one! And you’re dipping all over the floor." At least Buggy thinks he is, he can't exactly risk looking at the floor right now. Not with what he would have to skim over to do so. ~~Just a peak wouldn't hurt~~ Nope. No. He is not falling for that you traitorous hunk of gelatin.

"Ohhh, right. Sorry, most of my other roommates didn't care. And besides, we grew up together it's nothing you haven't seen before." ~~See Shanks said it fine, other people saw.~~ A flash of jealousy shot through him. Other people got to look why couldn't- _No. I see what you are going and I'm not falling for it. I am not going to look._ And as for Shanks 'nothing you haven't seen before?' _'nothing you haven't seen before!?'_ Buggy is pretty damn sure Shanks didn’t look like _that_ when he left three years ago. At least what he can see out of the corner of his eyes. _He's not looking_...much.

“That is so not the point of this conversation.” Holding up a hand to forestall anything Shanks can say. “Which we can continue _after_ you are _dressed!_ ” Pointing at Shanks’s bedroom door.

“Okay, okay” Shanks puts his hands up in surrender and turns completely to get into his room. Unable to resist when Shanks is turned around, Buggy's eyes revolt against his orders not to look and he chokes. _Shanks has a tattoo. Shanks has a _ **tattoo.**_ It was Buggy’s only coherent thought after Shanks closed the door to his room. Shanks has a tattoo and it was nothing like the little thing Buggy got. No, Shanks was a massive back piece. From what Buggy could see it was a ship done in light browns, red and gold in the middle of a storm bordered by several sea kings. It was such a quick look that Buggy was unable to see if it was a pirate ship or find the jolly roger if there was one. _I wonder if he used the one from when we were kids. Can we be marked by the same one?_ Buggy’s inner thigh throbbed at the thought._

Taking a breath he goes to the closet to grab a towel to wipe up the water Shanks dripped off the floor, finishing that he threw it into the basket next to the washer across the hall from the bathroom. A couple more steading breaths Buggy itched to do something, anything, to distracting. Pulling out a bunch of ingredients he got started on a recipe he learned in Dressrosa. It was a sweetbread he fell in love with, unfortunately, he didn’t have all of the traditional ingredients so he made do with some chocolate chips instead. He could use the extra sweetness.

“Okay, I’m dressed,” Shanks says from the doorway causing Buggy to jump almost knocking over his chocolate. Shanks lunged for the cup, catching it just in time. “Woah, got it.” He pushed it farther back onto the counter to avoid any future mishaps. “Soooo…” Shanks says leaning back against the counter crossing his arms as he waits. Right. Buggy said they were going to continue the conversation.

“Can you _please_ refrain from walking around the apartment naked?” Buggy pleaded. He didn't care that he was basically begging. He could _not_ handle something like that regularly.

“Sure.” Oh, thank the heavens he wasn’t going to fight this. “But I do have a question if you wouldn’t mind answering it?” _Fuck, of course, strings are attached._

“Sure.” Buggy says, side-eyeing Shanks as he begins to knead the dough.

“What are you making and can I have some when you're done?” Shanks asks. Oh does Buggy want to hit the asshole.

“It’s a sweetbread from Dressrosa.”

“Dressrosa huh? How’d you learn?” the underlying tone of sadness made Buggy wince. Buggy quickly moved on to answer the question hopefully avoiding what Shanks really wanted to ask.

“There was this nice lady and her husband, Scarlett and Kyros, who let me stay with them." His original reservation was destroyed to make a toy factory of all things. "I didn't want to feel useless so I asked to help with food. She was really patient and let me write down the recipes I learned. This one was one of my favorites so I actually ended up memorizing the recipe. We don’t actually have all the correct ingredients so I'm substituting a few things with what we do have.” Gesturing to the chocolate chips.

“So it's good?” Shanks asks as he walks to the table.

“It won’t be as good as Scarlett’s but I think I do fairly well.” Buggy says, pulling out a clean bowl for the dough to rest in, setting the oven at a low heat so the bread would rise properly.

“So when’s it going to be done?” Shanks asks.

“Not for a few hours. It still has to rise for a bit before I even bake it.” Buggy shrugs, sitting down at the table across from Shanks. Buggy tilts his head in confusion as Shanks seems to hunch into himself. Then he realizes. _I'm not getting out of it._ Biting the bullet so to speak Buggy asks Shanks first.

“But you didn’t want to ask about that, did you?” Buggy asked and the small chuckle he received was enough of an answer. Buggy waited for Shanks to ask. _Why he ran away. Why the three years of absolute silence between them? Why was Buggy such a coward?_ He braced himself for the, rightfully, accusing questions.

“You’re right it wasn’t what I wanted to ask. Wh…” The pause is murderous to Buggy. Instead of any of those questions, Shanks asks “Did _I_ do something wrong?” in the most wounded voice. Because once again it’s _Shanks_ and he has never done what Buggy expected.

“What! No!” Buggy blurts out. “Shanks.” How could he even think that? "You have done nothing wrong.” and he hasn't, it was Buggy’s incapability of handling...everything. His feelings for Shanks. The feeling that any second he could just blurt out his feelings. The realization that their relationship could get Shanks hurt. “I..I just. I just. Look it was a me thing ok? It was something...something I did for me and I felt like if I told you I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. I know that was probably selfish, but I jus-” That was true; he knew if he told Shanks what his plans were Shanks would offer to go with him or worse give him his blessing. Something about Shanks telling him it was okay to leave would have hurt more. It was all just getting to be too much for him, but seeing Shanks now it feels like someone drove one of his knives into his heart. Unable to stand being so far from Shanks at that moment he gets up, grabbing the chair next to Shanks and putting as close as he could. Hesitatingly, he takes Shanks’s hand and gently rests a hand on Shanks’s cheek, a silent request and an act of comfort. Shanks sinks his head into Buggy’s hand and _shit, fuck!_ Shanks was a tactile person, he thrived off of physical affection, and Buggy withheld his own touch out of cowardice. How could he forget such a thing? The knife twists a little deeper.

“I- I know that things have probably been confusing. I know that I didn’t handle things in the best way. If I could change it I would. It's just I couldn’t think of another way to handle… to handle.” Buggy takes a moment to figure out the best way to phrase it. The feel of Shanks’s hand squeezing his own steadied him. So he takes a deep, slightly unsteady breath “I couldn’t think of any other way to handle something that was my own responsibility. So I need you to understand something. Okay? Can you do that for me?” Shanks nods his head, the feel of Shanks short beard scratching Buggy’s palm with the movement. Buggy pulls one of Shanks’s hands to his chest and moves the one on Shanks’s cheek to the back of his neck pulling Shanks forward so their foreheads touch. It was something they did when they were little. It steadied him to feel Shanks’s presence like this. Shanks steadily holds Buggy’s gaze.

“Why I left is something I’m not ready to talk about and I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but understand this. Nothing I did was your fault.” Buggy says, grip tightening on Shanks, shaking him slightly to emphasize his point. “So don’t go thinking otherwise ok? You are the last person who should be blamed for my actions.”

“But-” Shanks tries to protest.

“No. No Shanks. No buts.” Buggy says bringing himself even closer as their noses touch. Buggy shutting down any other of Shanks’s protests. Buggy can’t stand the thought of Shanks blaming himself for something that is obviously all Buggy’s fault. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Shanks sighs, switching their hands he pulls Buggy’s hands to his own chest gripping Buggy wrists licking his lips before asking a question Buggy wished he hadn’t.

“Was... was it the Teach thing? Cause you know Roger and Rayleigh took care of him and he won’t ever hurt you again. You know that right. No one is going to hurt you like that ever again.” Shanks declares his grip tightening on Buggy and using his legs to bring Buggy even closer to him. Shanks' eyes going dark and distant like _that bastard_ was right in front of him again. A swirl of knotted emotions settled is Buggy's gut. He shouldn't find that look attractive. It should be a look that terrifies him like it terrifies anyone else, but it's Shanks and Buggy knows himself well enough. He's had enough dreams and fantasies about Shanks _taking_ him with that look on his face, imagining the bites, bruises, and blood to go with it. Speaking of which, Buggy wants to wince as Shanks's grip is so tight around his wrists but it's also grounding, the feel of Shanks so solidly with him that he ignores it to focus on answering Shanks question. _That’s definitely going to bruise though._ It was one of the things that pushed Buggy into leaving, but at the end of the day it was Buggy’s cowardice, was his fear of Shanks even getting _even a hint_ of Buggy’s true feeling it would shatter everything. Shanks went through so much, _too much_ for just being Buggy’s friend who knows what Teach would have done to him if they were anything more. But he can’t lie to Shanks, not about something like this. But he can’t tell him the truth _truth_ either so Buggy admits to a truth instead.

“I want to say no, I really, really do. But that...that _incident”_ the venom crawling its way out of his throat to spit out the word. “It made me realize something I had been avoiding and.” Buggy grips Shanks’s shirt with nearly the same strength as Shanks is gripping him needing to draw strength from Shanks before he lets it go. Sliding his head down to rest on Shanks’s shoulder hiding his face. “And I just realized I needed some space. That’s why I left. It was only supposed to be for a year. The other two. The other two were just my cowardice.” The small confession, quiet but taking everything out of Buggy to say. Shanks finally lets go of Buggy’s wrists to pull Buggy into a hug that is so gentle that Buggy wonders if Shanks thought he was made of glass.

“I know I asked, but I’m not sure if I really care about the answers. I am just happy you're home.” Shanks says as he buries his face into Buggy’s hair, “and you know if you do need to talk about it, you can tell me anything right?” He sounds so concerned and desperate it rips the knife out to leave Buggy to bleed out. _I guess Shanks isn’t the only bleeding heart in the room._ Buggy pulls back the twitch of Shanks’s hand not strong enough to keep him in Shanks’s embrace.

“We should probably get everything ready, your friends will be here soon.” Buggy says, moving to check on his bread. Finding it ready he preps it for baking and resets the oven.

Putting the loaves into the oven Buggy sets a timer on his phone and heads back to his room. He didn’t want to be here for the poker game hiding in his room the entire time. Falling onto his he pulls up his messages to double-check that Cabaji and Mohji are still up for hanging out. Getting two thumbs up he settles into waiting for the timer to go off. He didn’t want Shanks to worry about it on top of having guests over. He’ll stay until it's done then head over to Mohji and Cabaji’s house. Dropping his phone he throws his arm over his eyes and tries not to let his thoughts overwhelm him.

* * *

After paying for the pizza Shanks is all set up, but doesn't get any time to relax as he phone buzzes informing him that his friends are here. Grabbing his keys he knocks on Buggy’s door.

“Benn, Lucky Roux and Yasopp are here. I’m going to go let them in.” Shanks says still worried about Buggy. They got some things cleared up, but Shanks felt, no he knows, that the conversion didn’t get to the root of their disconnect. He doesn’t know what Buggy has planned for the night but he hopes he’ll come out and say hi at least. He knows the likelihood of Buggy staying to play is pretty low. Damn it now he wants to play cards with Buggy. _Another night, you have all the time you want now._

“Okay,” Buggy responds muffled by the door. The almost monotone of Buggy’s voice does nothing to ease his worries. Unable to think of anything to make it better Shanks heads down and lets his friends in. Leading them upstairs he directs them to the kitchen having Lucky Roux set the snacks he made down onto the counter.

“Smells good. You baking something boss?” Lucky asks. Drawing Shanks’s attention away from Buggy’s room.

“Huh? Oh, no that’s Buggy’s. He said it was some type of Dressrosa sweetbread.”

“Is he here?” Benn asks, taking his seat.

“Yeah he’s in his room. I’m sure he’ll be out for the bread.” Shanks says shrugging. _Maybe I should have cancelled it. Or talked to Buggy more before the guys showed up._ Indecisive his gaze keeps flicking to where Buggy is.

“Something wrong?” Benn asks, eyes flicking to the thumb Shanks was chewing on. Yanking the thumb away Shanks looks at it in disgust. _I thought I got rid of that habit._

“Mmh? No. Well yes. Maybe? I’m not sure.” Shanks says. Except something is wrong, anything that put that look in Buggy’s eyes was not okay. He just doesn’t think they would really get it if he told them. They only know Shanks and even Marco who spent quite a few summers with them doesn’t completely understand Buggy and Shanks’s dynamic.

“Well let’s get started if you're going to be this distracted, maybe we can win some money off of you this time,” Yasopp suggested.

“Optimistic of you to think if even distracted I still won’t clean all of you out.” falling into the bantering easily. Nodding to Lucky to start dealing. Poker night rule, host isn’t allowed to deal. There about 3 hands in when Buggy comes out of his room sliding his phone into his pocket.

“Hey Buggy. Bread ready?” Shanks asks head trunking to follow Buggy as he makes his way to the middle of the kitchen to open the oven door.

“No, I'm here to do a magic trick.” Buggy says sarcastically, not acknowledging anyone else. Good indifference is better than hostility.

“Really which one?” Shanks tilts his head trying to remember what tricks he could do. Buggy mostly did sleight of hand tricks.

“I’m going to make myself disappear.” Buggy’s hand waving in a magician's wiggle.

“You’re not staying?” Shanks asks pouting.

“No Shanks, I'm not staying. You’re not the only one who has a game night with friends.” Buggy says rolling his eyes as he checks the bread turning it around before putting it back in.

“Oh what do you guys play? We wouldn’t mind if you and your friends wanted to join us.” Benn asks. Shanks hisses under breath. Flicking his eyes to Buggy Shanks regrets that he didn’t give his friends a heads up about how to handle Buggy. _Stupid. you've done this before and Buggy isn't in the best of moods right now. ** ~~And whose fault is that?~~**_ He knows Benn is just trying to be friendly but that wasn’t the right way to phrase it. Buggy is picky about the who, when and all that stuff when it comes to his living space. Benn’s wording is a _little._

“That’s a bold statement for a guest to say in someone else's house." Buggy says his smile is more akin to the bearing of teeth than anything pleasant "But to answer your original question we play darts.”

“Wait darts like you play at a bar or summer camp darts?” Shanks asks, trying to distract Buggy; the tenseness of his body is not the least bit reassuring.

“Regular-ish darts” Buggy answers dismissing Benn.

“Ish?” Lucky asks the same time Yasopp asks “Summer camp darts?” Benn just raises an eyebrow as Shanks who just waves him off. He’ll explain later he really doesn’t want a repeat of the _very awkward_ sleepover incident.

“We’re too lazy and cheap to buy actual darts and we're a creative bunch so we just use things we already have and a piece of plywood for our board.” Buggy says finger moving in the familiar motion Buggy uses to check for his knives. Shanks is 80, 85 percent certain that Buggy doesn’t have any on him at this moment, but just in case.

“Keep any of the old rules?” Shanks asks, taking a peek at his cards and folding before getting up to stand in front of the dishwasher. Putting himself in between Benn and Buggy. Hopefully a reassurance for Buggy.

“A few. Had to get rid of most of them. Chicken-shits.” Buggy snickers focusing on Shanks, some of his tension easing. _Good. I’ll have to have a talk with them after Buggy leaves._ Cursing himself for not doing it sooner. He was just so glad to have Buggy back he forgot that, much like alcohol, Buggy can be an acquired taste. One that takes time and sometimes additional education to learn how to appreciate properly.

“To be fair some of those rules are insane.” Shanks points out thinking of a few of them that were probably ~~definitely~~ toeing a line. Which line Shanks was still unsure but if they ever tried to turn it into a real game they would probably be denied on the grounds of child endangerment.

“Says the one who made up the most ridiculous ones. Seriously I can’t believe Roger didn’t skin you for what happened to his hat.” Buggy scoffs.

“My hat” Shanks corrects instinctively, “and you were the one who actually caused the damage,” Shanks says disgruntled. Roger wasn’t mad so much as exasperated when Shanks ended up going to him to ask how to repair it.

“You're the one that put it on the bullseye. It’s not my fault that you doubted my impeccable aim.” Buggy huffs crossing his arms and moving his head to the side nose in the air.

“How was I supposed to know you could easily hit a moving target twice the normal distance we had it at? Though I’m pretty sure those scorch marks were _your_ fault. Seriously those Buggy Bombs you made were much closer to actual _bombs_ than the fireworks you said they were.” Shanks glares. Buggy waved him off brightening at the topic of explosions. Yeah, Ace definitely picked some things up from his big brother.

“Fireworks are bombs, they're just made to be pretty instead of lethal. Oh! I should figure out that recipe again. I have such a better understanding of chemistry now. Damn, wish I knew where my old notebook went to. I looked for it after I signed up for chem, but it just disappeared.” Buggy sighs.

“Weird,” Shanks says looking slightly to the side of Buggy.

“Shanks.” Buggy says eyes narrowing on Shanks.

“Hm?” Shanks says playing dumb.

“Where’s my notebook?” Buggy asks bluntly.

“You just said it was missing. Why would I know where it is?” Shanks asks, putting on his most innocent expression. Buggy turns fully towards Shanks slowly making his way into Shanks’s space.

“Where’s my notebook Shanks?” Shanks fully twists his head away from Buggy.

“Silvers,” fully in Shanks space now Buggy gabs Shanks chin harshly forcing Shanks head to twist back and down to connect with Buggy’s eyes. “Where. is. my. _fucking notebook?”_ Buggy demands words sharp as he says each one carefully. _Is this how it feels to be hunted?_

“In..in my room” Shanks stutters. Buggy is being demanding. _That’s...huh._

“Which one of your rooms?” Buggy asks sugar coating the words even as his eyes seem to get sharper. A shiver races down Shanks’s spine.

“At the house. I can ask Rayleigh to look for it real quick.” Shanks says heart pounding against his ribs as he continues to stare into Buggy’s eyes.

“That ..would be a… _wise decision._ Go.” Buggy commands as he lets go of Shanks’s face, not moving back making Shanks slides against Buggy tripping on the corner of the counter as he heads to his room. His phone is in his pocket he just needs a second to get his head back on straight. ~~ _Dude you have never been straight._~~ Closing the door he takes a moment to breathe. _That was intense? That didn’t seem like the right word. ~~Hot? Sexy? Something you wouldn't mind seeing as he rides your~~ Whatever he’ll figure it out later. _Pulling up his contacts he calls Rayleigh.

“Hello?” A very feminine voice answers instead.

“Hey, Shakky. Where’s Rayleigh?” Shanks asks.

“Oh he’s tied up at the moment,” Shakky says with a soft laugh the pull of a cigarette following.

“I’m going to assume you mean figuratively. Please, don’t correct me.” Shanks says he can never tell when Shakky is being serious and he’d rather not dig too deep into his parents’ private lives.

“Sure, sure. Why’d you call?”

“Buggy wants to go all mad scientist. I was wondering if his notebook was still in my room?”

“Sure I can go give a quick look.” Shanks stoutly ignores the muffled ‘behave’. It’s for his own sanity. “You guys are coming home for Halloween? We could use someone to take Ace trick or treating. With everything going on the work party is ridiculous this year, but it should be done by 10 if you have other plans.”

“I don’t see why not.” Shanks shrugs. He will ask Buggy but at the very least Shanks doesn't have any plans yet.

“What does it look like again? I don’t see it on your bookcase.”

“Ah right it should be under my bed actually,” Shanks says huffing out a laugh scratching the back of his head.

“I thought that was where boys hid their porn. What are you doing- found it.”

“I needed it for reference material,” Shanks admits.

“Oh?” The absolute wickedness loaded into that one word.

“Not like that. It was for my tattoo. I needed a jolly roger and Buggy’s looked pretty cool. Don’t tell him I said that though.” Shanks said, bringing a finger to his lips even if Shakky couldn’t see it. The notebook had the latest and cleanest rendition on the cover. It made it easier for Dorry to get just right. Still, he didn’t want Buggy to think Shanks agreed with him that his jolly roger was better. Then again Buggy probably got a good look at his tattoo earlier. It's possible that he saw the flag already. _Maybe not._ After all, Shanks can’t imagine Buggy being silent if he saw his jolly roger permanently marked onto Shanks’s back.

“Thanks for finding it. I’ll let Buggy know about Halloween and you can get back to watching wholesome television shows with your husband.” Shanks says.

“Yes, our nights are very _wholesome.”_ Shakky letting out a breathy laugh. “Night brat.”

“Night.” Shaking his head as he hangs up. He loved Shakky but she could make it a little easier for Shanks to live in denial about what his parents were up to. At least Roger and Rouge were more likely to send Shanks to a dentist rather than looking for brain bleach.

* * *

“I can’t believe he stole my shit” Buggy muttered in disbelief. What could Shanks have possibly needed his notebook for that he would actually take it? It's not like it would help with a college-level class. It was filled with random notes and half-formed ideas for science experiments. Mostly explosives, but hey what kid didn't like fireworks.

“Not like you were around to notice,” Benn said. Everything in Buggy froze. Turning his head to look at the speaker.

“Excuse me?” Buggy asked, falling easily into a bitchy tone. It was a great defense mechanism against high school bullies who thought they could push Buggy down just because they were insecure. Buggy had his own insecurities to deal with, thank you very much.

“Not like you were around to notice.” Benn repeated, “You ghosted him for 3 years I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a lot of things about Shanks activities that you’re unaware of.” Benn says cooly, taking a sip of his drink.

“I’m _distinctly_ aware of how long Shanks and I have been apart.” Excruciatingly aware of it. There was only so much you could do in a day, but the boat rides were the worst. Long hours with nothing to do but think. It's when he wrote most of his letters, even the ones for Shanks that he never sent.

“Are you? Cause you didn’t seem to be very eager to see your _supposed_ best friend. At least that’s what Shanks considers you. The question is do you?” Tuning to look at Buggy, to assess Buggy. Like he had a right to say who was and wasn’t worthy to be within Shanks’s inner circle. That was Shanks decision no one else’s.

“I don’t see how _mine_ and Shanks’s _relationship_ is _any_ of _your_ business.” Was this bastard really questioning what Shanks was to him? Who the fuck gave him the right? _You did. When you ran the fuck away._

“It hasn’t been your business since that first day of camp. It has been _my business_ for 3 years 1 month 2 weeks and 2 days from the day you decided to cut off all contact with Shanks until the day we ran into you in front of Amazon Lily.” Benn says standing up taking a step towards Buggy.

“You know nothing.” Buggy spits shifting his feet so his back is fully against the cabinets. They have no idea how much it hurt to leave Shanks. How many times he wanted nothing more than to crawl back, to come home to Shanks. They were BuggyandShanks and ShanksandBuggy. Then Buggy had to go and ruin it by developing feelings beyond what Shanks felt for him. To have Shanks be put in such danger for merely being Buggy’s _friend._ How much worse could it have been if they were closer? It was a question that kept Buggy awake on the nights when sleep didn’t want to even torture him in his dreams. Staying would have broken him and he would have taken Shanks down with him. When he came back the first time Rouge called for Buggy dinner without the usual Shanks right after his name. It sent Buggy into a downward spiral. He managed to say he was tired and that he was going to bed early. He’s sure if it wasn’t for Ace suddenly developing a fever he would have been interrogated but with Roger gone on business, she had to put her 3 year old first. Buggy usually went to her or Roger eventually but he couldn’t do that. Not with how close both families were. It would destroy everything.

“And neither does Shanks apparently” Yasopp adds standing to head to the fridge. “Not exactly a good friend move. Disappearing without a word.” Closing the door, beer in hand resting his back against the door.

“If I haven’t told Shanks what makes you think I’ll tell you?” No need to tell them that they had a conversation about it earlier. They had no right to pry. Shanks would be furious if he found out they were doing this. They knew it too if they waited for Shanks to be out of the room first.

“We don’t want to hear your excuses.” Benn says “we just want you to know that we’re watching you.” Buggy’s vision narrows and his hearing fades. ~~We’re watching you~~ a slimy dark voice whispers in his head. When a large figure enters his vision, Buggy tries to palm his knife, but he doesn’t have one on his person. He has to remind himself that he is in his apartment. Shanks is right down the hall. He shouldn't need his knives. But three strangers are also in his house and they despise him. The lack of physical protection sends him into a mental lockdown blocking out everything his brain finds unnecessary. Face blank body falsely relaxed he watches out of the corner of his eye not looking away from the long-haired man in front of him. _To close. They're too close. Bigger than him. Will hurt him again and again._

“It was burning,” The big one says from right next to Buggy. It is a soft voice, one completely different from the one from his nightmares. The difference allows Buggy's awareness to fade back in. _You're not there. You’re fine. Shanks is fine. It's been years. He’s been dealt with. Breathe. Lucky Roux his name is Lucky Roux._ "We care for Shanks, we just don’t want to see him hurt.” _Why the fuck do you think I left!_ Oh, how he wants to scream.

“Shanks was fine without me.” Is all Buggy says, voice dismissive as he pushes past Benn grabbing his sleepover bag from the closet and leaves. Buggy didn't owe them shit. It's just like high school all over again. As long as Shanks said they were fine then everyone else didn't matter. Even so, Shanks did just fine without him. He had to be. They were proof enough of that. Shanks wasn’t like Buggy. Shanks was strong, he could thrive without Buggy. Buggy felt barely like he was barely surviving in the years without Shanks. Buggy knew he was a bad friend. He was the worst kind of friend, especially to Shanks. He didn’t need them to remind him.

We’re watching you.

Diving into an alley Buggy digs out his phone. Hands shaking he finally manages to type out a predetermined message to the group chat. Mohji immediately calls him.

“Are you safe?” Is the first question out of his mouth. Buggy manages a hum. As a wave of relief washes over him. They may not be Shanks, but they are wonderful friends who Buggy is thankful for every day for sticking with him.

“We’ll be right there,” Cabaji says voice muffled by the distance. They started talking, making Buggy answer questions to ground him. By the time they showed up Buggy was much less shaken and wrapped himself in the blanket in the back seat. He couldn’t stand contact when he was like this. Human contact at least. Walking into the house he curls into the armchair Richie walking and placing his giant head into Buggy’s lap. Cabaji and Mohji do their best to comfort him. Playing one of his favorite movies in the background. But it just hurts, burying his face in Richie’s mane he allows himself to take in his surroundings and finally relax for the first time since the conversation with Shanks.

“Thank you.” Buggy whispers as he sinks onto the floor to lay against Richie’s side. Mohji and Cabaji don’t say anything, just nodded. He didn’t deserve such good friends but he was grateful he had them. Richie gives him a lick, rough tongue scratching against Buggy’s face and letting out a rumble soothing Buggy further. Two movies later Cabaji and Mohji set Buggy’s stuff up on the couch before heading to their own bed. Giving Buggy’s shoulder a squeeze on their way up the stairs. Exhaustion taking over his body he sinks into Richie’s mass passing out on the floor.

* * *

“Ok Shakky found it and she wants us to- Where’s Buggy?” Shanks asks cutting himself off as he walks back into the kitchen. Finding Yasopp and Benn still in their seats with Luck Roux over by the range.

“He left,” Benn answers, voice oddly flat.

“Already? Well, I guess I’ll tell him when he gets home later than.” Shanks pouts. Sliding back into his seat.

“So that was Buggy. He’s not exactly what I expected with all the stories we now realize that were about him. Is he always like that?” Yasopp asks.

“Like what?” Shanks knowing what they're talking about but wanting to hear it in their own words.

“Prickly?” Lucky suggests when Yasopp seems to struggle to come up with a word.

“I mean, yeah. He’s always been that way. He’s the type that needs to warm up to you before he puts the knives away.” Shanks snorts.

“You mean claws,” Yasopp says.

“No, I mean knives. Cause really when you start your life surviving by pickpocketing people you find yourself with a weapon real quick. I had a crowbar. Buggy had a stiletto.” Shanks says assessing his cards before throwing in a couple of chips.

“Crowbar?” Benn asks.

“You guys know I’m adopted.” Shanks shrugs, he never saw the need to dwell on that time.

“Well yes but we figured it was through the usual way foster homes or orphanages.” Shanks lets out a bitter laugh at that.

“Yeah, no. Never ever been to one. Rayleigh found me on the docks stealing shit out of his crates. Roger found Buggy I think like 2 weeks later or something when he went to buy something and realized he didn’t have his wallet.” Letting out a more genuine chuckle. “Little shits the both of us. It is probably why we started on such bad terms. Like recognizing like and not being too fond of the reflection in the mirror forced in front of us. Anyway it took us a while but we ended up finding our own feet and realizing we were more powerful together. After all, without us, I doubt Roger or Rayleigh would have gotten either Rouge or Shakky. Those women are so out of their league.” Not to mention their pranks got so much better too.

“You know you don’t have to reconnect with him. Just because of your childhoods you know.” Benn says not unkindly. Shanks pauses his drink upon his lip. Slowly placing it down without taking a sip. Turning his full attention to Benn.

“I’m not sure what you're thinking, but I want to make one thing very clear. Buggy was, is, and _always will be_ a part of my life. If you can’t deal with that we are going to have a problem. So do we have a problem?” Shanks asks staring Benn down before making eye contact with each of his friends, all three of them breaking eye contact first. “Good. I’m not saying you have to like him, just be civil. And whatever you do. _Do. Not. **Corner.** Him.”_ Shanks says punctuating each word with a chip. _Buggy has dealt with enough shit over the years, he’s not about to let his friends be another source of pain or fear._

“Now that we have that cleared up. Let’s get back to the game shall we?” Shanks asks back to his normal cheery disposition. The rest of the table imperceptibly sighs with relief. They were not used to seeing that level of intensity from Shanks outside of a match. Even in the middle of an intense match, Shanks was still one to crack jokes lightening the mood. The only time they’ve seen it off the pitch was when Rockstar got into some trouble outside a bar. By the time they got there, they were only able to see the aftermath but the intensity that radiated off Shanks left them off-centre. Seeing it come back and stronger for someone they barely knew made a shiver crawl down their spine. They were never afraid of Shanks but they might need to readjust their perspective.

They spent a couple more hours playing with Shanks winning _again._ Yasopp left first and Lucky was packaging up the leftover food and putting it away and left with a quick salute. Benn was last helping Shanks put away everything else.

“Sorry about before. It’s just.” Benn says.

“I know what it's like to want to protect your friends. I get it Benn I do.” Shanks knew all about that. Maybe too well shoving down the pitch-black thoughts of Teach. “I know that with Buggy suddenly coming back you're seeing something you never have before. You don’t have to understand everything. You just have to understand that me and Buggy are better when we are together and trust me on that. Besides, you could probably use a friend you can bitch about me being stupid with. Buggy’s an expert in that. Give him time. You’ll like him I promise.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Benn says as he heads out the door a backwards wave as he heads down the stairs. Shanks heads to the couch planning on waiting for Buggy to get home. It’s not until it hits midnight that he starts getting worried. Another half hour and he’s pacing back and forth. At 12:45 he can’t take it anymore and he digs out his phone. Calling up Buggy his panic only rising with each ring. The sound of Buggy’s voicemail nearly makes him lose it. Dialling again he holds his phone tighter and tighter with each ring.

“Wha?” The sound of Buggy’s groggy voice makes Shanks sink to the floor in relief.

“Hey Bugs. Did I wake you?” Shanks asks softly.

“Mmm”

“Sorry. You going to spend the night there then?”

“Mm-hmm, Richie’s warm”

“Richie? Who’s that?” Shanks never heard of Richie before. Buggy brought up Cabaji and Mohji before, but not Richie. And warm? Does that mean they’re close? Shanks’s didn’t like that thought at all.

“Fluff-butt. Kitty cat. Good boy. Yes you are” Buggy says still on the edge of sleep it seems like. _Oh it’s just a cat._ Why did that bring Shanks a sense of relief?

“All right. There’s a… our first match is tomorrow ‘round 5 pm. If you want you can come? You know like before? I could use some Buggy luck.” Buggy snorted at that.

“No you don't. Your luck has always been bullshit. You've done just fine without me. Besides, I'm bad luck. Or just bad. I’m a bad friend” Buggy mumbles. Hearing that worried Shanks. Was it just old insecurities flaring or because of their conversion earlier?

“No you're not. You're the best friend I’ve ever had.” Shanks says firmly. It’s true, Buggy was his first real friend and even as he made more none could come close to Buggy.

“Best friends don’t run away. Best friends don’t abandon their friend just because I couldn’t” A choked sob broke off Buggy’s sentence.

“Buggy? Bug. Bugs?” The sobbing was picking up; Shanks’s heart breaking with each cry. Buggy is crying and Shanks doesn’t even know where he is to run to him. A feeling of helplessness is creeping into his own lungs making it hard to breathe but Buggy needs him right now. “Red Nose!” Shanks didn’t want to yell but he needed Buggy’s attention back and while his nose was a sore spot with others it was always a term of endearment from Shanks. He loves Buggy’s nose.

“The fuck you say about my nose?” it's watery and not as emphatic as it usually would be but it isn’t another heart-wrenching sob and for now it's enough for Shanks.

“I said it's the most gorgeous nose I’ve ever seen. In fact, you're the prettiest person I know. Hancock shamcock. She’s got nothing on you. I bet she let you into Amazon Lily to check out the competition.” Shanks says turning the conversation away from what made Buggy cry for a second.

“Stupid.” Buggy snorts. His laugh, still fragile.

“Maybe,” Shanks concedes, “but you know what I’m right too. You know what else I’m right about. You being the best friend I ever had.”

“Liar.” Buggy accuses.

“Never. Not to you. Not about this. ”Shanks states.

“Fuck you. You don’t even know why I abandoned you for years. We went to the same school for years and purposely ignored you. I stopped going to holidays because you were there.” Buggy spits out venom coating the words.

“I don’t care,” Shank simply says, because he doesn’t. He told Buggy earlier he was just glad he was home and that’s the truth.

“The only reason we ever met again was by sheer dumb luck and if it hadn’t happened I would have ignored you forever.” The words barely sting.

“Then I sure am lucky.”

“Goddammit, Shanks. I’ll do it again.” Buggy threatens.

“No you won’t” Shanks denies. He knows better and he knows something Buggy is forgetting.

“Yes I will!”

“No you won’t Bugs”

“And how do you know, mister know-it-all?” Buggy mocks.

“Because you love me.” Buggy’s breath hitches. “And I love you and even if you do run away again I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth.” Shanks says softly in such contrast to the near shouting of Buggy’s.

“You would do that for all your friends,” Buggy mumbles.

“No I wouldn’t,” Shanks whispers. “I'm not going to lie, it hurt when you left. It hurt when you came back and it was clear you went out of your way not to cross my path. Am I curious why you left? Yes, but I lived without you for three years Bugs I’m not going to do it again.”

“Fuck you, fuck you! You lobster headed piece of shit!” Buggy says. “Why can I never win?” Because it isn’t a competition. Shanks thinks it but doesn’t say it.

“Go to sleep Bugs. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I hope the bed-Buggys bite you” Buggy attempts a parting shot, but it comes out hollow. “Will you stay with me until I do?” Buggy asks all bluster and bravado gone, nothing but a quiet vulnerability left.

“Sure Bugs. Anything for you.” Shanks says walking into his room thankful that he doesn’t need to change before climbing into bed. Quietly talking about his plans tomorrow's match until the sound of Buggy’s even breathing lets him know Buggy is truly asleep. Checking his alarm he plugs his phone in to charge. He doesn’t hang up though, the sound of Buggy's breath lulling him to sleep.

* * *

A muffled ringing drags Buggy up from slumber. He tries to ignore it and is briefly rewarded. Until it started up again. Groaning he rolls around until he finds his phone picking it up he grunts into the receiver.

“Wha?” Mouth dry and uncooperative.

“Hey Bugs. I did I wake you?” Shanks asks softly.

“Mmm” Oh it's Shanks.

“Sorry. You going to spend the night there then?” Shanks asks. Spend the night? Oh right he lives with Shanks now. Where is he again? Lifting his head he finds Richie looking at him. Oh he must be at Mohji and Cabaji’s place.

“Mm-hmm, Richie’s warm” He is snuggling back into the lion’s fur.

“Richie? Who’s that?” Shanks didn’t know? Shanks knew all his friends. After all Buggy never had that many.

“Fluff-butt. Kitty cat. Good boy. Yes you are” Buggy says scratching under Richies chin as the big cat shoves his head into Buggy chest.

“All right. There’s a… our first match is tomorrow round 5 pm. If you want you can come? You know like before? I could use some Buggy luck.” Buggy snorted at that. Shanks doesn’t need more luck. He could actually share some of it with others. Selfish bastard.

“No you don't. Your luck has always been bullshit. You've done just fine without me. Besides, I'm bad luck. Or just bad. I’m a bad friend” Buggy mumbles. The _talk_ with Shanks’s friends coming back to the forefront.

“No you're not. You're the best friend I’ve ever had.” Shanks says firmly. _Only you seem to think so._

“Best friends don’t run away. Best friends don’t abandon their friend just because I couldn’t” A choked sob broke off Buggy’s sentence. He couldn’t hold it in anymore so he just started sobbing. Tears running down his face, breath hitching, making him incapable of taking in a proper breath as each sob wracks through him. He can barely hear Shanks let alone make out the words.

“Red Nose!” Shanks yells. Buggy stops cause Shanks hadn’t used that nickname in years, even before Buggy left. Their nicknames for each other always boarded on insults, but they both knew it was never to be used to actually hurt each other.

“The fuck you say about my nose?” He says the words by rote too stunned to think of anything else to say.

“I said it's the most gorgeous nose I’ve ever seen.” He did not. The bastard. “In fact, you're the prettiest person I know. Hancock shamcock. She’s got nothing on you. I bet she let you into Amazon Lily to check out the competition.” Shanks says obviously shifting topics.

“Stupid.” Buggy snorts. His laugh, still fragile. Wiping at his eyes to clear the tears.

“Maybe,” Shanks concedes, “but you know what I’m right too. You know what else I’m right about. You being the best friend I ever had.” Buggy very much doubts that.

“Liar.” Buggy accuses.

“Never. Not to you. Not about this.” Shanks states. Always so calm to Buggy rage. Cheerful to Buggy’s sulking. Optimistic to Buggy’s cynic. Shanks is Buggy’s opposite in so many ways and in the ways Buggy was once jealous of. Still is some days if he’s honest. Like right now when all Buggy wants to do is sulk in his pity pit and Shanks won’t let him. Fine Shanks won’t admit it? Buggy will make him.

“Fuck you. You don’t even know why I abandoned you for years. We went to the same school for years and purposely ignored you. I stopped going to holidays because you were there.” Buggy spits out venom coating the words.

“I don’t care,” Shank simply says.

“The only reason we ever met again was by sheer dumb luck and if it hadn’t happened I would have ignored you forever.” Buggy says cause he would have. He had no intention of ever reuniting with Shanks.

“Then I sure am lucky.” He’s still so fucking calm. Buggy wants to rip his hair out, better yet pull Shanks’s hair out till he’s bald.

“Goddammit, Shanks. I’ll do it again.” Buggy threatens. It’s a low blow and even as he says it he knows he’s lying.

“No you won’t,” but Shanks’s confidence is only grating on Buggy even more.

“Yes I will!”

“No you won’t Bugs”

“And how do you know, mister know-it-all?” Buggy mocks. He knows he should keep his voice down but Buggy finds it impossible to do so when arguing with Shanks.

“Because you love me.” Buggy’s breath hitches every single fear he has ever had flashes across his mind. “And I love you and even if you do run away again I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth.” Shanks says softly and Buggy feels himself break all over again even as he’s reassured by Shanks words. Because Shanks loves him, just not like that.

“You would do that for all your friends,” Buggy mumbles.

“No I wouldn’t.” Shanks whispers. “I'm not going to lie, it hurt when you left. It hurt when you came back and it was clear you went out of your way not to cross my path. Am I curious why you left? Yes, but I lived without you for three years Bugs I’m not going to do it again.” The sheer determination in Shanks' words takes the wind of Buggy’s sails.

“Fuck you, fuck you! You lobster headed piece of shit!” Buggy says half-hearted at best. “Why can I never win?” All the fight drains out of him.

“Go to sleep Bugs. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I hope the bed-Buggys bite you” Buggy attempts a parting shot, but it comes out hollow. “Will you stay with me until I do?” Buggy asks all bluster and bravado gone, nothing but a quiet vulnerability left. He misses Shanks even if they’re only a ten-minute car drive from one another.

“Sure Bugs. Anything for you.” Shanks says and Buggy can hear him climbing into bed. Buggy falls asleep to rugby jargon as Shanks tells him about which team they're playing against tomorrow. _Maybe I will go. It would be fun to see Shanks on the field again._


End file.
